Untoten Kreuzung
by xMechaSheikx
Summary: When something ends, something new begins. At least that's how the saying goes, but if your Rune Albana it goes a little more like this. When the world gets taken over by the zombie outbreak, something bad is bound to begin. With her newfound comrades from the Call of Duty: Zombies series she's ready to survive the zombies and perhaps stop it by some slim chance.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes: Hello peoples, this is my first story on this site, but it's certainly not the first story in my mind. I would love to hear feed back. I've been working on this story in my head for years now, ever since I became obsessed with the CoD: Zombies series. This is a prelude to another one of my stories, so basically it's a backstory to another story (sort of). Hope you all enjoy!**

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 1: There are always beginnings, and always ends

Rune stared at the outside through the window, looking at the town that she once knew. It was now a shell of its' former stature. People no longer walked on the sidewalks, cars didn't drive past on the highway, and children didn't play in the yards. It was empty and lonesome, save her and her new comrades.

They'd found her in a hospital not far from her home, stuck in a coma. When they entered her room trying to hide from zombies she awoke to their voices. She recognized them almost immediately and explained the events she remembered leading up to this undead plague. Once she got her bearings she led them out and took them to her town.

There were four of them, all men, and she knew them from a video game. She contemplated the chances of how on earth they ended up here, but was glad that they did. What game you ask? Well, "Call of Duty: Zombies", of course.

Each of them sat in a chair, or in the Imperial Japanese's case, stood near the door. His name was Takeo Masaki, he held a quiet demeanor, but had plenty of discipline to go around. On the couch, though very uncomfortably, were an alcoholic Russian, named Nikolai Belinski, and a headstrong US marine, named Tank Dempsey. In the chair across from them was the psychotic Nazi doctor, Edward Richtofen.

She couldn't have been happier to be stuck with them.

"Get yer foot off my foot ya drunken bear." Dempsey barked at Nikolai. At that remark she frowned. She was almost never happier.

"I can't help it you know it hard for me to control legs when sitting down. They just flop down and don't move, like first wife." He replied to his American comrade.

"Well then sit somewhere else before I cut one of those legs off." Dempsey threatened.

"All right, all right, jeez. Who pissed in your bowl of soup this morning?"

After the little conflict Nikolai did find another place to sit, on the floor, but it was better than watching two men fist fight, or was it. Anyway, back to Rune's thoughts. She'd stopped looking out the window and turned to the blank TV screen.

"Let's see if anything's on right now." She pitched.

She got up from her chair and pressed the "on" button for the TV and did the same for the sound system. At first it was just a black screen, like it had been for the past thirty minutes. Rune picked up the remote and pressed the guide button, and skimmed through the channels. After a few minutes of channel surfing she stopped on the news.

To her surprise when she did a broadcast was playing, but as she feared it was 'that' broadcast. A suited man, with slick black hair was seated at the news table with the American standby screen behind him.

"We urge all East Coast citizens to evacuate immediately and make their way to Nashville, Tennessee. All Midwest citizens evacuate to the Jefferson City or Kansas City areas. All West Coast citizens evacuate to Sacramento, California or Phoenix, Arizona. This is not a drill, this is an actual emergency and these are the precautions you must take in this time of crisis. Take only what you need, leave everything else behind. Once this crisis is over your belongings will still be there. Take your families and head to the appropriate evacuation destinations. For those unwilling to evacuate I offer these words of advice, "Good luck, and God be with you." I repeat this is not a drill, this is an emergency. We urge all…."

Rune switched the channel and sat back down. She hung her head with shame and sadness.

"They left without me? How could they leave me in a hospital to die at the hands of those undead freaks!" she cried and threw the remote into the kitchen where its' back popped out and the batteries flew every which way.

"I bet they're the dead ones now. It's been two weeks and those hold out cities must have fallen by now." She assured herself.

"What makes you think that?" Tank asked. Rune lifted her head and moved her chocolate brown hair out of her face.

"Don't you ever watch zombie movies, city hold outs don't last long, especially if some of the inhabitants are already infected."

Richtofen sat up a bit more in his chair, clearly intrigued by what she was saying.

"So zhis is an infection zombie virus? In our dimension it vas a radiation sickness ordeal." He commented, and Rune nodded.

"It's a virus called Solanum. It was originally thought to be a cure for cancer, but turned out to be a vicious virus. It only takes 24 hours to kill you and afterwards it takes over your brain's controls and makes your body its' host." She explained.

Takeo looked out the door's window for a moment and then returned to his old pose. Rune sighed with a mix of boredom and disbelief.

"You guys wanna play a game?" she asked.

"What kind of game, charades?" Nikolai replied

"No, a video game, I promise you guys will like it."

All of them except Takeo looked at each other. Tank shrugged his shoulders.

"Why not, could be entertaining?" he pitched.


	2. Chapter 2

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 2

With controllers in hand, they waited for the Playstation to boot up.

"You guys are gonna love this. It's called Call of Duty." Rune declared. The blank TV screen was replaced with the transparent stream of blue and a number of smiley face icons. Rune selected the first one on the list and scrolled over a few times and then down.

She selected the game disc and waited for the game to start.

"So vhat kind of game is zhis, und how do ve use zhese controllers." Richtofen asked skeptically.

"This is an FPS, or first person shooter for short. And you hold the controller with your thumbs on the analog sticks, index fingers on the top buttons, R1 and L1 which you also use your indexes to use the ones behind them." She explained.

Nikolai dropped his controller after struggling to hold it correctly. Rune sighed and faced the others.

"Like this." She said, demonstrating the proper holding technique. They all nodded their heads like something had clicked.

The intro was now playing on the screen. Flashes of different documents and videos went by until Rune skipped it.

"Sorry, I just can't stand going through that for the hundredth time." She stated. The menu screen came up.

"This is Call of Duty: Black Ops. I hope you guys don't mind if I take you through a quick tutorial."

She quickly scrolled down to the split screen option and waited for the next screen to show. When it did she switched the map to Nuketown and set the mode to free-for-all.

"Alright, now you guys press the button on the middle of the controller." She instructed. One by one new players entered the list. She hit the start match option and waited for the loading screen to finish.

It took at least an hour for the three to get into the rhythm of the game and soon they were playing pretty decently.

"Oorah! Take that Nikolai!" Dempsey hollered as he killed Nikolai with the M16.

"Ah c'mon Tank, I had to reload. It not even fair that way." Nikolai complained.

"Oh, Dempsey~ I found your little head in ze vindow." Richtofen sang, and he preceded to headshot the American from the other house's window.

Rune was in the backyard of the yellow house, prone on the ground. She had been observing them while they got orientated with the game.

"You think you guys are ready for a match with me?" she asked.

"Ready? Ha! I'll own you!" Tank laughed. Rune gave him a sinister sneer and ended the match. She changed the map to Summit and started another match.

The game started and they all chose their classes. Richtofen took the sniper class, Nikolai took the LMG, Dempsey took the assault class, and Rune selected her custom class.

"You never told us about customization." Richtofen commented.

"I'll let you guys customize after this match." She replied.

Rune started on the far side of the map and changed out to the M1911. She ran into the main building and jumped on the terminals and onto the catwalk. Then she switched back to her Famas and waited. After looking around his spawn area, Dempsey went into the main building only to get shot in the back by Rune, who laughed at his misfortune.

"What!? Where are you?" he raged.

"It's a secret." She replied deviously. Tank began his fruitless journey to kill Rune by constantly going into the main building, only to find that she'd moved to another part of the catwalk and got killed himself.

"I thought you said you were gonna own me, Dempsey?" Rune mocked.

Dempsey growled and tried to go in through the fenced way. This time instead of getting shot by the Famas, he was owned with the M1911, which caused Rune to laugh maniacally. Meanwhile Nikolai was not having a good time with Richtofen, who had constantly shot him with the L9A1 and moved to another location.

"I'm going to kill you Richtofen!" Nikolai shouted, after the fifth death he'd suffered from the German.

Suddenly Rune heard a click on her M1911 and then switched to her Famas only to find that it too was out of ammo.

"Oh dear," she mused, "it appears I've run out of ammo."

"Haha! You're mine now you little snake!" Dempsey laughed. He entered the building and scanned the catwalk where he expected to find her, but didn't.

"Where'd you go, you little bitch?" he growled. Rune had slipped out through the window and was now running to where Richtofen had marked his territory with littered bodies of Nikolai's character.

"Oh look, a lost little rabbit in my part of the woods. Nahaha! Die!" Richtofen screamed. He let loose a bullet which he thought for sure would kill her in one hit, but to his surprise he missed completely.

"Nope, I got Marathon pro. You're never gonna catch me, forget about it," Rune mused as she ran out of Richtofen's line of sight, "see ya'll next year!"

"Get back hier you little schwein!" he yelled.

"Okay you asked for it." Rune said as she went back, climbed through the window, which startled him and proceeded to knife him.

"Vhat!? You little schweinhund!"

She picked up Richtofen's L9A1 and went back to the main building. When she got in Dempsey came out from the catwalk and shot at her. Rune escaped with a severely bloody screen. She checked her score and realized that she needed one more kill to win. With a bit of luck and bravery she managed an amazing final headshot that ended the match.

Dempsey was speechless and the other two were disappointed that they didn't win. Rune sat back in her chair with her controller on her lap.

"Don't worry guys you'll get better." She encouraged.


	3. Chapter 3

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 3

After hate filled words were exchanged between the four Rune changed the screen back to the menu.

"How do you guys feel about a co-op game?" she asked. Dempsey shrugged and Nikolai gave a look of approval.

"What kind of game is zhis one?" Richtofen questioned.

"One you'll know very well, one you'll know very well." She replied as the menu screen turned a sickly hue of red and the Zombies lobby theme played.

Takeo perked up and his eyes were wide.

"I know that song!" he stated. The others knew it as well and looked at Rune with curious glances.

"This is your dimension is it not?" she said as she scrolled to the Shi No Numa map. They looked and reacted quite shocked to see the start of their journey in a video game.

"In this dimension, you are all video game characters. Seeing you here has made me very happy, because ever since I played this CoD mode I've always secretly wanted you all to be real." She explained.

"Und hier ve are…" Richtofen replied quietly.

"So can we play or no?" Nikolai asked, clearly not a metaphysically conflicted as the others.

"It's only a two player mode, so who wants first dibs?" she asked.

"Eh, I in no big rush, you other bastards go ahead." Nikolai answered and he put his controller on the ground. Dempsey shook his head and Richtofen did the same.

"Okay….I guess I'll demonstrate." She declared and started the game on Shi No Numa.

The loading screen came on and the four looked at it intensely.

"Look how young Richtofen looks, da." Nikolai commented.

"Look at how fat you look Nikolai." Richtofen retorted.

"Hey, pictures always make me look bigger than I really am."

"Look at that sexy beast, oorah." Dempsey commented on his own picture.

Richtofen fake vomited which awarded him a dark glare from Tank. After the loading screen finished Rune took about a second to look at the hands and then restarted.

"What are you doing?" Dempsey asked.

"Getting the right character." She replied repeatedly restarting and looking at the first person model.

After the eighth time she stopped and a wide grin came across her face. The black gloves, symbolic to Richtofen, were now on the screen wielding the M1911. She darted from window to window watching for zombies. The window closest to the stairs was the first to spawn them.

As they shambled forth she practice knifed the boards for the window. As soon as the zombie came up to the window she quickly stabbed it which prompted the in-game Richtofen to comment, "I sliced his head clean off."

"Zhat's….zhat is me? Vhat kind of demonic game is zhis?" he screamed.

"It's Samantha's game, Edward, you should know that." She replied, with a wicked grin on her face. When the third round came she moved the debris from the stairs and opened the mystery box. She waited patiently and was rewarded greatly. Rune squealed like a little school girl which caused Nikolai to plug his ears.

"Oh, vundervaffe, how I've missed you!" she stated exactly the same way and the same time the in-game Richtofen did. The doctor was not amused, but rather creeped out now. Rune gathered the zombies from the top floor and herded them down to the ground floor where she proceeded to send a lightning charge at the screaming mass of undead.

"Die, die ,die you undead worms! Feel the power of Doctor Richtofen!" she cackled.

"All right who gave you the crazy juice!?" Dempsey questioned, almost as creeped out as Richtofen was.

"No one did, he's just my favorite character." She stated.

"What? Are you kidding me, that psychopath!" he pointed to the German, who honestly thought that she was crazier than he was now.

"If you don't want me to play the game then fine, I'll stop." She said hitting the pause button and quitting the game in two seconds flat.

"I told you guys, this is a different dimension when you found me and warned you about it."

"Yeah, but it's very creepy when you see yourself on screen being manipulated by a…..a…..uh…..how old are you?" Nikolai commented.

"Sixteen." She replied.

"A sixteen year old." He finished.

She turned off the system and put the TV back on.

"Fine then, let's just watch something on Netflix." She offered.

"Vhat is Netflix?" Richtofen asked.

"It's a thing that let's you watch TV shows and movies by streaming them to your TV, game console, or computer. Pretty cool, especially when there's nothing good on live TV." She answered.

She went through the recording list and stopped at the bottom to select Netflix.

"Here," she said as she tossed the remote to Dempsey, who almost missed it, "you guys pick something out. I'm going to bed."


	4. Chapter 4

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 4

Rune laid in her bed looking out the window to her right. It was a full moon night which made her happy. She contemplated about her actions downstairs a few moments ago. _Showing them their own world from a video game, I hope they understand that many other video games might exist as their own dimensions too. At least that's what I've always believed._

She closed her eyes and waited for sleep to set in. Not more than five minutes later she heard a knock on her door. She sighed and got up to answer which ever man was at the door. Of all people it was Richtofen who was on the other side.

"What do you want?" she asked, trying to hide an underlying excitement.

He cleared his throat and took off his hat.

"About ze whole other dimension thing, honestly I don't find it odd. Vhat I do find disturbing is your uncanny knowledge from zhat game." He stated as he came into the room and shut the door behind him.

"Vhat exactly do you know?" he questioned darkly, his eyes narrowing with a sinister glare.

"If you're asking about the master plan, I do know what it is." She admitted shamelessly.

"Zhen you must know vhat happened to the other three in Siberia, right?"

"Yes, they were brainwashed by you in a super soldier experiment with 115."

"Do you know vhat 115 is?"

"A radioactive element called ununpentium which is used in almost all experiments of Group 935."

Richtofen nodded content with what she knew.

"Do you know vhat I plan to do zhen?"

"Take control of the zombies by swapping souls with Samantha on the moon base, Griffin Station." She concluded. Richtofen grabbed her shoulder and came down to eye level.

"Do not tell ze others, or as God as mein vitness you shall know pain beyond your darkest nightmares." He threatened.

She shivered, but nodded in agreement.

"Gut," he replied as he opened the door back up to leave, "by ze vay am I really your favorite?"

"…..Yeah….if you really didn't believe me downstairs on the game." She answered.

"Sehr gut, sehr gut. Guten nacht, Rune." He said as he left the room, closing the door behind him.

Rune lay back down and attempted to fall asleep again, this time with success. Her dreams were quite abstract that night. It was a mix of ocean scenery with scenarios of getting lost underwater, under which she could breathe normally.

She woke up to sunlight streaming into her window and loud snoring from downstairs. Rune fixed her hair and put on her dark gray jacket over her tank top. Downstairs she saw Nikolai passed out on the floor snoring like an elephant with congestion, Dempsey sprawled out on the couch and Takeo asleep quietly in a reclined chair.

She noticed that Richtofen wasn't among them.

"Ed, where are you." She whispered.

"Over hier, und you don't have to vhisper. Zhey're so passed out zhat not even a fire alarm vill get zhem up." He replied.

"So whatcha doing on the computer?" she asked.

She already knew that Richtofen was well acquainted with computers. He pulled up the Black Ops Wikia page and looked at her, like he was demanding an answer.

"You found the Zombies part of the website?" she asked and he nodded affirmatively.

"Listen, I'm not vone to vorry, but I'm schtill not convinced zhat you von't tell ze others." He stated.

She rolled her eyes, and put her hands on her hips.

"How much proof do you need to satisfy you of the fact that I won't tell?" she questioned. Richtofen thought for a moment and opened his mouth, but shook his head and kept thinking. Then he smiled deviously and looked at her.

"How about you pull a little prank on Dempsey?" he suggested. She smiled back.

"What kind of prank?"

"Ve take vone of Nikolai's socks und put it on his face, und vhen he vakes up, nahaha, he vill really wake up."

"Hehe. All right then. I'll get to it."

The sock was placed and Dempsey didn't even move a bit. The two of them were suppressing their laughter as they walked back to the computer room. In the meantime of waiting for Dempsey to wake up, Rune showed Richtofen a few things on Youtube. The first thing being PewDiePie's Slender attempts.

Richtofen could hardly keep his laughter at bay. He was sadistic it was in his nature to laugh at other's misfortune and fear. The second thing she put on was Death Battles. She cheered as Link totally owned Cloud Strife in an epic sword fight.

They suddenly heard someone stirring in the living room and they went to check. It was just as they had hoped, and Dempsey was awakening. He yawned and then suddenly gagged. He bolted upright; there was no doubt if he was awake now. He threw Nikolai's putrid sock to the side.

"Which one of you mother fuckers did it!?" he shouted. Takeo rustled from his sleep, but Nikolai didn't even budge. Rune and Richtofen both laughed uncontrollably. Dempsey glared at them angrily, picked up the sock and threw it at them. Rune squealed and ran to the stairs and Richtofen followed her example.

"You're pushin' your luck little girl!" he warned.

"I'm not a little girl, I'm sixteen, I'm a woman." She retorted.

"Yeah, well you don't act like one."

"Oh, lighten up Dempsey, it vas all in good fun." Richtofen chuckled.


	5. Chapter 5

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 5

"Who wants waffles!?" Rune cheerfully asked. She came out of the kitchen with a plate stacked with hot waffles, dripping in syrup and topped with butter.

"I'm ready to eat anything right now. Even shoe leather seem good to me right now." Nikolai replied as he downed his third bottle of vodka for the day.

She sat the plate down on the coffee table and went back into the kitchen to get plates and forks for everybody. The four stared at the waffles like they were gods. When she came back into the living room she suppressed the urge to laugh at their odd staring.

"By the way you guys are staring you really haven't had much on your travels have you." She commented.

"Well when yer chased by zombies 24/7 It's kinda hard to get some food in ya." Dempsey replied. She put her hands up in an 'All right, all right' kind of way and she proceeded to lay out the plates and forks. Nikolai wasted no time picking out his pieces and then devouring them like a ravenous wolf. In all honesty, they all acted that way within varying degrees.

Rune waited politely for them to finish what they wanted. She was left with just two waffles, which was all she would really eat anyway.

"What kind of pancakes are these?" Takeo asked after swallowing his first bite.

"They're blueberry, can't say they're my favorite, because that would be chocolate." She answered.

Dempsey got wide eyed and swallowed his mouthful of food.

"They've got chocolate waffles!? Oorah! You got some for us?" he yelled excitedly.

"Actually, I don't….in fact these were the last of the waffles in the fridge. Not to mention one of the only things in the fridge." She replied.

"Well that's no good is it?" Nikolai mumbled between chews.

After everyone had got done stuffing themselves with the food it was time to address the issue with their limited food supply.

"So how much do ve have left?" Richtofen started.

"Whatever canned goods we have. Since everything that was expired I threw out before making the waffles, and that was basically everything but the waffles." Rune answered.

Dempsey clapped his hands together, startling the others.

"Well we need to go shopping don't we?" he stated.

"Yeah right, Dempsey. Don't you know zhat ze stores vould have already been raided by zhis time?" Richtofen retorted.

"Not exactly," Rune declared," before the crisis started the government stated that all store supplies were moved to the evacuating destinations. However, there are always a few store owners who don't do as they're told, take the liquor store across the street…"

Nikolai got to his feet, surprisingly without falling back to the ground.

"There's a liquor store, where!?" he shouted.

"It's across the street, but I wouldn't advise going out there until we patrol the area for any zombies and deem it safe." She advised.

"If there are any zombies out there they won't be for long."

He headed out the front door without any other thought.

"What an idiot." Rune said as she face palmed.

"And now we wait for the sound of the drunken pig dying." Takeo chuckled. And so they waited for the Russian to return or hear his screams, whichever came first.

After five minutes the screen door creaked and Nikolai was cradling seventeen bottles of vodka in his arms.

"You all a bunch of pussies, there are no zombies. Just broken down cars and crows." He declared.

"None, are you sure?" Dempsey questioned.

"See for yourselves." Nikolai replied.

They got up and looked out the door.

"Well don't be shy, go outside." He urged. And so they did and to their amazement there wasn't a zombie in sight. Not even a hint of their presence was present.

"Vell, zhis is convenient. Ve can explore as much as ve vant vithout ze fear of getting ambushed by zhose undead cretins." Richtofen commented.

"Yeah….Well then shall we?" Rune asked.

"We kinda have to get our gear, just in case." Dempsey replied.

"Oh right. Well after we get ready we can go get some stuff."


	6. Chapter 6

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 6

Rune was the first one out of the door. As soon as she felt how nice it actually was outside, and the fact that there weren't any zombies as far as she was concerned, she was ready to go.

"Now we don't have to be cooped up inside all day." Takeo stated. Rune checked the time and date on her phone.

"May 24th, I guess being in a coma for two weeks really gets your internal clock in a twist. Not to mention that I actually woke up at a decent time instead of ten or eleven." She commented.

"What time is it, exactly?" Richtofen asked, pulling out an expensive looking pocket watch.

"O' eight hundred and thirty-five hours." She replied.

"Verdammt, I'm off. Let me adjust ze time on zhis thing und ve can go. I hate not having ze correct time on hand."

After the small adjustment, Rune led them across the street and headed toward the highway.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Dempsey asked.

"What do you mean?" she replied.

"If we're going to the highway, can't we just drive?"

She stopped walking and didn't say anything for a while.

"I'd….rather not drive…" she hesitated.

"Why not, you've got too perfectly fine cars right in the driveway…"

"I just don't okay!" she yelled. Dempsey flinched a bit, and decided against continuing the conversation.

"You don't have to drive. One of us could." Nikolai offered. Takeo gave him a 'are you crazy' look.

"You better not be the one driving." He declared. Nikolai shrugged his shoulders and took out a bottle of vodka.

"Fine, which one of you guys can handle driving?" she asked. Richtofen, and Dempsey raised their hands, then gave each other dirty looks.

"Which one can drive without getting us killed?" she specified. They both kept their hands up. She scowled the two, causing Richtofen to put his hand down.

"Dempsey can drive, but if ve get into an accident he looses his privilege." Richtofen warned. Rune shivered at the mention of an accident.

"Please don't mention accidents." She pleaded.

"Vhat, vhy, I'm just saying…."

"Just don't, all right." She ended.

He put his hands up and backed off. So they went back to the house, Rune got one of the car keys and tossed it to Dempsey.

"Silver one, unlock it with the button that has an open lock picture on it." She instructed. He fiddled around with the numerous miscellaneous chains and things and found what she was talking about. He pressed the button and heard the clunk of the locks.

"All right everyone in." she said, opening the front passenger door. The other three assigned where they would sit in the back. Just as Dempsey was about to start the car, Rune stopped him.

"We're not going anywhere without everyone wearing their seatbelts." She nagged. She saw Nikolai roll his eyes and she gave him a scowl that would cause a pit bull to cringe.

Once they all had their seatbelts on she smiled and nodded to Dempsey.

"Now we can go."

They drove for about ten minutes on the highway before Rune instructed Dempsey to turn off at the exit ramp into the next town. It was a bit eerie to be on the road with no passing cars or any kind of traffic.

"Turn left here and when you get up to the gas station go through the lot and head for the tan and white building." She continued her instruction.

He did so and as soon as he got into the other building's parking lot he stopped.

"Oh shit." He blurted.

"Well this is really comforting." Rune added.

"What I can't see?" Nikolai muttered.

"You don't vant to see, mein Russian friend." Richtofen advised.

A mass of about thirty zombies were scattered in the lot, shambling around, unaware of their presence.

"What do we do now?" Dempsey asked. Rune sat back in her seat and ran her hands through her hair.

"Ever seen a demolition derby?" she asked.

Dempsey looked at her weird, but then it clicked in his mind.

"We're really gonna do this?" he questioned. She nodded and grabbed onto her seat.

"Go for it."

She didn't have to tell him twice. Dempsey put the pedal to the floor and rammed the first unsuspecting zombie right over the car.

"Ooo fuckin' rah!" he cheered. The sound of the car sent the zombies on full alert and they came charging at them.

Thudding and screeching echoed through the lot and zombies were flung every which way and crushed into a foul paste by the car tires.

"It's just like Dead Island!" Rune commented. The thirty zombies that were shambling about were now limp and truly lifeless lumps or chunky puddles of undead flesh and blood.

It was decided that it was now zombie free and they got out of the car. Dempsey was still laughing when he got out, and Nikolai was sort of chuckling and snorting.

"Well zhat vas fun." Richtofen admitted. Takeo covered his mouth like he was going to be sick.

"Wow, Takeo, you get motion sick easier than I do." Rune informed. Takeo didn't appreciate the sentiment and gave her a nasty glare.

"C'mon let's get shoppin'." She urged. They walked up to the building and saw that the sign to the place was missing a few letters.

"Heheh. It's not Wal-Mart anymore, its' WALMT now." She giggled. At least the automatic doors worked, but Rune couldn't help but bring up the meme of 'there are no automatic doors, just gentleman ninjas'. Inside the crane games had been toppled over and carts were strung every where.

"Everyone take a cart and make sure to just get canned foods and anything that has a long expiration date, plus if you find anything you want feel free I'm not a cop."

"Oh yeah, the delinquent in me is gonna have a fun day!" Dempsey stated as he took off with a cart.

"Dempsey you are a delinquent." Richtofen muttered under his breath.

"Come on, Richtofen, you can't say you don't enjoy taking things from store." Nikolai pushed.

"Vell no, but honestly….you know vhat just go Nikolai. I've nothing important to say to you." He told him.

Nikolai took a cart and headed to the most obvious of places, straight into the liquor aisle. Rune took off to the actual groceries, but noticed she was being followed.

"Why are you following me, Ed?" she asked without turning around to see him.

"Just thought you might vant to have a friendly conversation, like most vomen do." He replied pulling up to her left side.

She just kept going and sighed, at his comparing her to the female stereotype.

"Then what do you want to talk about?" she asked.

"For one, vhy vere you so stingy about driving hier, can you not drive or something?"

"I can drive….I just….don't prefer to…."

"May I ask vhy?"

She turned her face away from him.

"You remember when you guys found me in the hospital?"

"Ja, vhy…..oh, sorry I asked?" he mumbled.

"Yeah, from what I remember I was in a car accident with a friend. On a country road not too far from here I believe. She wasn't in the hospital….I guess she was lucky and got out with a few broken bones or….she's dead now."

He put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"You know, I had a friend who died. When I was around, oh, eleven or twelve, a group of friends and I vent to an abandoned quarry. The quarry vas filled with vater und ve had vatched ze older kids take swims in it. Ve decided zhat day zhat ve vould go swimming too. Ze older ones hadn't been around for a few veeks so zhey couldn't chase us off. The friend who died, Erik, he vas…not ze brightest of people, he'd do anything you told him. Ve all dared him to be ze first one to jump in. Oh how ve regretted it."

She had been listening intently to his story.

"What happened to him?" she asked quietly. He sighed and continued his tale.

"He didn't hit a rock or anything ve knew vhere all ze big rocks vere. Vhen he jumped in he swam around for a bit, but before ze next kid vent ve heard him scream. Ve looked back down in ze vater and saw hundreds of vater snakes gathering around him. Ve couldn't do anything, ze vay out of ze vater vas a rock face und he vas too far avay from it. Ze snakes bit at him one after ze other. Two of my friends ran to go get help. I just stayed zhere und vatched helplessly as he vas bitten and screamed. Vhen ze adults got to the quarry, it vas too late. Erik had gone under and ze only thing zhere vas left to save vas his dead, bloated corpse."

Rune grabbed her throat and twisted her hand around it nervously.

"Doesn't it haunt you? You talk about it like it's a common occurrence." She said, trying to keep her voice at an audible level.

"People die every day. I knew zhat, even back zhen. I vent on vith my life like nothing had ever happened. To be honest I never really liked him, in fact I vas alvays darkly glad zhat zhose snakes got a meal out of him. He vas annoying….." he looked back at Rune, "But zhat's not the point. Ze point is people die und zhere's no reason to linger on such things. Do you understand?"

She looked down into her empty cart.

"Yeah…I guess I do…What I don't get is how you didn't become afraid of snakes?" she answered.

"Have you ever paid attention to my eyes?" he asked. She turned to face him and for the first time realized that his eyes were quite unique you could say.

They were green, and that was normal, but his pupils were large slits, just like a snake.

"After zhat day my friends couldn't look at me ze same vay again, because of my eyes. Zhey never talked to me like a normal person ever again." He explained.

"But….on the character model your eyes are blue." Rune informed.

"Like you said before, ve came from another dimension. Just because ve may have been made that vay hier doesn't mean ve are zhat vay in reality."


	7. Chapter 7

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 7

**Hey readers, sorry about the delay of this chapter. Usually I update once or twice a day, but I got caught up with school work yesterday and couldn't finish this chapter for submitting. The good thing is that now I'm on a four day weekend so now I've got a lot of time to write and play TF2 while I wait for an idea to pop up.**

After about an hour and a half of "shopping" and regrouping was done Rune led them all to the electronics part of the store.

"What are we doing here?" Takeo asked hauling around his cart of neatly assorted canned goods.

"We need a way to communicate if we get separated. This part of the store might offer some things that will help if that happens." She answered.

When they arrived, however what Rune thought she would see was not what was there, it didn't surprise her though.

"Well, ya think some people wanted their tech-y stuff before they suffered un-death?" Dempsey commented. Glass cases were shattered and most of the good electronics were taken.

"I'm a little bit scared to actually try to scavenge through. I highly doubt we'll find anything useful now." She admitted.

However, Takeo had already begun to search through what was left. Dempsey shrugged his shoulders.

"Why not, who knows what we could find?" he suggested. The others followed suit, trudging through the piles of discarded parts and avoiding the puddles of broken glass.

"Hey, what is this thing, it so weird looking and small?" Nikolai grumbled.

Rune looked over at what he had in his hand.

"Oh, well I suppose not everything good was taken. Or maybe someone forgot it here?" she guessed.

"Yeah, but what is it?"

"It's an iphone, personally I wouldn't take it. I hate Apple products, but if you want it, be my guest. Just make sure it works first."

He looked at it funny and began to tap the sides like some kind of caveman. She sighed and took the phone then pressed the small button on the side. The phone came to life and she handed it back to Nikolai, who immediately took a liking to the thing.

"Is this not good, there is battery thing and it is blank?" he asked.

She looked on the screen to confirm whether it was low on battery. Sure enough the battery icon had nothing in it.

"It just needs to be recharged; I have a few iphone chargers at home. We'll worry about it there." She told him.

"Hey, look at this thing, kinda like what Nikolai found, but this one's bigger." Dempsey alerted.

She walked over to him and saw he'd picked up an Android phone.

"Hey, that's the same model as mine, an Inspire. Though I doubt it'll have any kind of plan with it, considering you found it near the counter." She commented. Afterwards she pointed out the 'on' button and he proceeded to turn on the phone.

"Speaking of phone plans, I wonder if they still charge now that the zombie apocalypse has taken its' course?"

Ten minutes of searching led to some good finds. Each of the men had found a cell phone, albeit nearly dead ones. They found several radios that still worked and weren't trashed like the others they had come across. They'd also taken a few entertainment measures like gaming headsets, movies, game systems (That weren't already taken) and a lot of games.

Heading back to the entrance Rune stopped at one of the checkout counters.

"Sweet mamajama, there's still beef jerky here!" she shouted as she ran for the bags of teriyaki and original flavors.

"Whoa, didn't know you liked it that much." Dempsey commented.

"I love beef jerky, it's my favorite snack food. My dad used to bring back four or five bags of the stuff and we'd clean them out in one day."

She tossed all of the remaining bags into her cart and they continued out of the store where they would face another dilemma.

"How are ve supposed to get all zhis stuff into ze car?" Richtofen asked.

"Uh….I don't know, but we'll find a way." She said, looking for space anywhere in the car. She scratched her head in thought and mumbled to herself.

"We'll put all the groceries in the trunk first, any room left over in the trunk we'll put the electronics. After that we'll carry all the gaming stuff in the car itself." She declared. Only two things were off about the plan. One: The food took up all the trunk space and two: They had to stuff the seats and floor with everything else.

"Next time we should shop with moderation." Takeo suggested with the radios surrounding him.

"Yeah, I agree." Rune admitted with piles of games on her lap.

"Da, it's hard enough to sit up straight without these game things lying around me." Nikolai added.

"Heheh. I guess I got lucky, being the driver and all." Dempsey grinned.

"Don't be so happy American, or next time ve come hier, you'll be ze one carrying all ze extra stuff." Richtofen warned.

When they got back home they all bailed out of the car, glad to be free from their temporary car prison or gaming equipment and technology. After all the food had been put up and all the other equipment unpacked it was time to assign where all the stuff would go.

"Vhere should ve put zhis system at?" Richtofen asked holding up the Wii.

"We'll have it down here; since the Playstation only takes the HD slots we can put the Wii on the basic cables." Rune answered.

Nikolai was having trouble trying to open the games from their wrapping.

"You can use a knife, Nikolai. You don't have to sit there in misery." Rune stated. With that Nikolai happily took out his knife and cut off the laminating wrap on the cases. Meanwhile Takeo was in the other room tinkering with the radios, and deciding which channel to put them on.

Once their organizing was complete they all called their chairs and sat down. Rune was left sitting on the floor, which she didn't mind seeing that she was very used to it.

"Ya know what, I'm getting hungry. What about you guys?" Dempsey stated.

Nikolai rubbed his stomach.

"Da, I could use some food with my vodka." He admitted.

"Ja, I mean it is around lunch time anyvay." Richtofen added.

"Do not forget about me." Takeo replied from the other room. They all stared at the most obvious of people.

"Oh, Hell no, I am not some kind of housewife! I can't cook worth shit." Rune barked.

"Hey, in Russia shitty cooking is better than no cooking." Nikolai stated.

"I agree, and you're the only woman in the house….well besides Dicktofen over there." Dempsey insulted.

"Vatch it Dempsey, I've done more zhan just circumcised babies." Richtofen threatened.

She was not pleased in the least; she never conformed to the female stereotype. In fact she didn't even consider herself an actual girl, she preferred the term tomboy.

"Just zhis once, I promise if you hate is so much ve'll all take turns making ze food." Richtofen offered. Dempsey flung a stray rock that he'd got stuck in his boots. Richtofen returned his action with a death stare.

"All right, but just for tonight, and you better keep your word." She sighed. Richtofen made an 'x' across his shirt with his index.

"Cross my heart." He added. She nodded satisfied, but gave Nikolai and Dempsey a cross glance as she went into the kitchen.

"You two are idiots." Richtofen informed.

Dempsey scoffed and crossed his arms.

"You're the idiot. Now we all gotta do a woman's chore." Dempsey complained.

"Oh, so you vould rather get on ze bad side of ze only voman ve have seen in two years." Richtofen mused. Nikolai perked up realizing that he was right.

"When you put it like that….ah what the hell, I'll cook tomorrow, eh. Make up for slip up, da." Nikolai offered.

"If the Russian cooks, I will not eat." Takeo declared.

"Eh, go fuck yourself, Takeo. And while you're at it go find your monkey wife too, she around here somewhere." Nikolai retorted.

"I can hear you guys in there. You're not exactly quiet speakers." Rune warned. So until she was done cooking they stayed quiet, communicating only with their eyes of how each loathed the other.


	8. Chapter 8

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 8

Despite everything Rune had said to discourage them about her cooking, she'd done very well. She'd made a recipe her late grandmother had taught her when she was little.

"Hey, that looks good, what'd you make?" Dempsey asked ready to dig into the meal.

"It's something I learned when I was little, my Nana called it 'Pigs in the Chicken Coop'. It's just seasoned pork chops and chicken breasts with some mixed veggies. Nothing special." She admitted modestly.

"Your sobo taught you well, it is very delicious." Takeo thanked.

"Da, is very good. Better cooking than all my wives combined. Why you said you're not good cook, I don't care anymore, is good." Nikolai added.

"It might just be the fact that I haven't eaten any real cooked food, or it's just that good, but it is really good." Dempsey admitted.

"Ja, I have to agree vith ze others. You've done very vell." Richtofen thanked tipping his hat slightly.

Rune smiled and nodded to acknowledge their compliments. She went back into the kitchen and made herself a plate and joined them. As they ate Rune asked them about some of their experiences in the military. She loved to listen to the antics in boot camp and enjoy the tales of valor in combat. Dempsey, being the gossip that he was, went first in his boisterous story telling.

"Well, on my first week of Marine boot camp we had some of the guys prank the drill sergeant. They put rancid meat in his boots and had completely soaked his uniform. He got new ones, but he didn't say a word about it the day after, then three days after that prank he took the guys who did it and put them on permanent latrine duty and morning detail. Damn, you wanna talk about some pissed soldiers they were the ones." He chuckled.

"Haha, you think zhat's a hellish punishment? Vell vhen I vent through military orientation for the Wehrmacht, one of my tasks vas to supervise a group of new recruits. Zhey vere a trouble making bunch, in fact zheir previous drill sergeant had become so cross vith zhem he made zhem perform ze obstacle courses for twenty-three hours a day for a veek. Vhen zhey vere put under my supervision one of zhem asked to go to ze bathroom. I allowed him to do so, und he took his sveet time doing so too. Vhen he got back I saw him trying not to smile. Later in ze day vhen I vas going back to my quarters I paused und asked ze man's friend to go und get my papervork from my office. Vhen he came back he vas soaked in dirty dish vater und didn't have ze papers. For zhat I made zhem all run laps around ze facility until my meeting vith my senior officer vas over, vhich took six hours." Richtofen chronicled.

"Damn, didn't know it was that physical in the German army, seeing that you krauts are usually drunk or off fucking some girl in a hotel." Dempsey insulted.

"Oh, I'm sorry for ze Germans being stricter zhan ze American military, I guess zhat's something you never inherited from us, along vith any kind of intelligence you inbred mongrel." Richtofen replied.

"Hey, we don't need a conflict here. Dempsey that was uncalled for and Ed you know better." Rune coached. The two gave each other mutual looks and turned.

She shook her head and sighed.

"You two are beyond hopeless." She grumbled. The tension still hung in the air long after they were all done eating. Rune got up and started the Playstation.

"What are you gonna play this time?" Dempsey asked.

"I think I'll play some Street Fighter. Get some awesome fight music and let loose." She answered.

"A fighting game, I want to get next game on that!"

"All right you're call, but I won't go easy on you."

Rune decided to do arcade mode and set the time to infinite, changed it to best of three, and set the difficulty to hard. After selecting her character, Cammy, she went to the playstation menu and selected her fight music playlist. When the first fight started so did the music and man did it hype her up.

The first song was "Blood Sugar" by Pendulum. She fought to the beat of the music, coordinating her combos and hits perfectly. The first enemy was put down quickly. Dempsey couldn't help but nod his head to the beat.

It seemed that the enemies were inferior compared to Rune's skill. Until the rival fight ensued. When Cammy's theme played from the list Rune couldn't of been happier fighting the rival even though she lost a round, but in the end she succeeded. Then disaster struck, when the final fight with Seth took place.

"Ah hell, I'm gonna need more than Cammy's theme to save me here." Rune commented. She went to the play list and switched the music to the Godhand soundtrack.

"It's time for Sunset Heroes!" she exclaimed as she skipped the cutscene and let the battle start. It was a very tense and close fight on each round.

"Get him, get him! He's low on health!" Nikolai urged.

"That's it toss his ass to the other side!" Dempsey cheered. Rune was in the zone, there was nothing but the game now. With "Sunset Heroes" playing with her there was no way she could lose to him. The first round was close, she had fought him off with just a smidge of health left.

"Here comes the real fight." She muttered. She was prepared as the song switched to "One Winged Angel" from Final Fantasy VII Advent Children. She had kept her ultra combo bar reserved for this fight, after using her EX moves several different times and knocked Seth down to half health she popped it off, only to miss by a few seconds.

"What, that's bullshit!" Dempsey complained.

Rune recovered quickly from Seth's modified Thousand Kicks and prepared to Canon Spike the hell out of him. She was down to only a quarter of her health, while he stood strong at half. He came at her with his ultra which she dodged narrowly by jumping and she unleashed her super combo with a vengeance which put him at the same health as her. They both cancelled their throws and Rune quickly jumped before he could grab again and she Canon Spike-ed him from above dropping him to near death.

"You've got him now, finish him!" Takeo yelled.

"Get him, get him!" Dempsey cheered.

"C'mon he is nothing finish the job!" Nikolai pushed. Rune concentrated his focus entirely on dodging his super combo and then finishing him off with the Hooligan Headspin.

Dempsey and Nikolai stood up and cheered. Takeo and Richtofen congratulated her with applause. She skipped the final cutscene and lay sprawled on the floor, her face red from concentration and stress and the controller lightly clutched in her hand.

"That boss fight was a bitch." She concluded.

She sat back up and ended the play list.

"You still wanna play, Dempsey?" she asked in a cocky tone.

"Uh…..well seeing you pull that shit off, I'd rather not." He admitted.

"Fair enough, I've had my fill of fighting games. What to do now?"

"We could play some more Call of Duty?" Takeo suggested.

She shrugged and took out the Street Fighter disc and replaced it with Black Ops. Rune tossed her controller to Richtofen who was startled by the surprise.

"You guys go ahead I think I'll go upstairs and relax a bit." She told them before taking up the stairs.

"You're so dead this time Richtofen." Nikolai threatened taking a controller.

Rune lay in her bed, reading some D&D books and reminiscing about how she used to play with her nerd friends on weekends. She could here the four shouting out insults and laughing as they exacted revenge. Rune couldn't help but remember what Richtofen had said about them being slightly different from how she'd always perceived them. Come to think about it she did notice how they were different.

Dempsey was still boisterous yes, but he was a bit more child-like and care free. Takeo was, well less quiet if you could believe that. Nikolai was a bit more appreciative and slightly less rude than the game portrayed him. Richtofen was the one she noticed the most difference. He wasn't the hopelessly bat shit crazy Nazi who bathed in blood and took every opportunity to dissect an "interesting" specimen.

In fact he acted more controlled and much more intelligent than in-game. That wasn't exactly pleasing to know however; it could mean a million different things. Maybe he was even more conniving than the game portrayed or perhaps he truly was a gentleman at heart. She tried not to think about it too much, or she might get attached to finding the answers which would not end well in the long run.

It was almost two hours later that Rune decided to come back downstairs. She saw that the four were now playing Free-for-all on Villa and so far (and rather surprisingly) Nikolai was dominating.

"You pussies, cannot handle the power of MGs." He insulted. This caused Dempsey to run smack into the place where Nikolai was camping and knife him while he was looking out the window.

"And you need to learn respect for the knife, oorah." Dempsey replied happily.

"Ah, Rune, come und join us. Ze match is almost over so feel free to join next one." Richtofen offered.

"Nah, you guys keep playing. I've got no plans to play an FPS today." She answered.

"All right your choice."

She went into the kitchen and got a drink of Kool-aid. When she came back to the living room she noticed something moving outside through the window. It looked like a small child standing in the middle of the road. She was wearing a faded blue dress that was very old fashioned and she had a teddy bear dangling in her hand. When she saw the teddy bear she instantly recognized the child.

"Samantha…!" she uttered. Richtofen looked up from the game when he heard the name.

"Vhat, vhy did you say zhat name?" he asked. She pointed out the window at the little girl standing in the street.

"Nein, zhat little brat!" he exclaimed. The others were now looking out the window as well.

Samantha pointed to the house and smiled.

"I know where you live." She rasped in a playful tone. Rune sat her drink aside and headed for the door.

"Vhat are you doing!? Are you insane, Gott knows vhat she'll do to you?" Richtofen shouted.

She paid no heed and walked on out the door. Samantha smiled at her with her sickly innocent grin.

"I know what you're thinking right now, and I don't like it. You like Edward don't you?" she said in a mockingly sweet tone.

"Shut up you little brat and go home to your daddy where you belong." Rune threatened.

Samantha frowned and her eyes began to glow the eerie yellow tint of the zombies of the four's dimension.

"My daddy's dead because of Edward, and you like him which means I hate you too."

"Yeah, well let me tell you something little girl, in case you didn't know you can't control the zombies here."

"Oh yeah, we'll see about that!"

Samantha's eyes glowed brighter and brighter.

"Come out and play friends, Samantha has a new game for you." She spoke in the demonic voice of the announcer. Nothing happened, not a single zombie appeared from the ground or from afar. She began to frown again and she held her teddy bear tighter.

"Doggies, come out and play with Samantha." She ordered.

Again nothing happened, no fog, no ominous clouds, not a single sign of their arrival. Rune smiled and chuckled slightly.

"I told you, Samantha, you have no power in this dimension. The Aether doesn't hold sway here, go back to your dimension and stay there." Rune informed.

Samantha pointed at her with hatred.

"Mark my words, Rune Albana, you will rue the day you chose to anger me." She warned in the demonic booming voice.

"I shall wait for the day it never comes." Rune retorted. Samantha wasted no more words on her and she faded from sight.

She went back inside where the others looked at her expecting an answer.

"You don't have to worry about her. She doesn't have any power here." She informed. They all breathed a sigh of relief.

"But we do have zombies roaming about, nonetheless. So tomorrow we should start finding places to get weapons."

They all nodded in agreement.

"It would be best to prepare for a fight, in case we have to travel beyond here again." Takeo added.

"Yeah, I'd hate to run into those freakbags without having a way to retaliate." Dempsey admitted. For the rest of the day they planned on where they should look for weapons and what were good hold out places should the need arise. But other dangers would soon cross their path on the journey ahead.


	9. Chapter 9

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 9

**This is a really lovey kind of chapter at the end I hope you all don't mind. It also contains a few lines in German that I'll leave a note for at the end.**

That night Rune slept uneasily, her dreams were sickening. Thousands of people lay dead across a battlefield. It was a mix of modern day soldiers and ancient warriors. At the heart of the battlefield there was only one left standing. The figures' form eclipsed a blood red sun peeking behind the smoke filled sky.

She didn't know who it was, but as the dream progressed it began to walk through the battlefield. When she did get a look at the last man standing it was a heart wrenching experience. He was a young man, dressed in a light gray-blue military uniform with a blue armband on his left arm. He had a remarkable resemblance to Richtofen, but he was slightly different especially his eyes, for they were not any normal color at all.

His eyes were a vicious violet color, and his detached demeanor only increased the intensity. He suddenly stopped in the middle of a litter of bodies he looked at each one; a Roman legion, a Persian immortal, a World War II paratrooper, and a Vietcong.

*"Diese Männer alle kämpften um den gleichen Grüden und kam zu dem gleichen Zweck. Aber wussten sie, ihr Schicksal? Haben sie erkenned, dass sie alles für ihre Sache zu opfern?" he spoke in the tongue of the fatherland.

He paused for a long moment and lamented.

"And what say you, spirit who lingers about me in your dreams? Do you think the same as I?" he addressed looking directly into Rune's formless dream ego.

She woke with a start, her body shaking from the experience. She'd never had a dream like that before, what did it mean, how could that man had know about her? She put her head in her hands and tried to think it over.

"Bad dream, I take it?"

She jumped at the sound of Richtofen's voice. She looked over to her right and there he was on the side of the bed.

"Why….why are you in here?" she asked weakly.

"I heard you muttering from downstairs. I vas vorried so I came to check on you." He answered.

Rune ran her hand through her hair and still tried to comprehend the dream's meaning.

"Ed, have you ever had a dream where a person in it knows you're watching and talks to you directly?" she asked.

"I can't say I have, I tend not to remember my dreams, or have any at all." He admitted. She looked at her clock on the end table; Three fifteen in the morning.

"What are you still doing up at this time?"

"If you haven't already suspected I'm prone to insomnia und night terrors, I don't get a lot of sleep."

"Oh, that would explain a lot of things."

"It's only because of the damn schizophrenia."

"I would imagine so."

Rune pushed the covers off of her.

"Vhere are you going?" he asked.

"To go get a drink, I feel dehydrated." She answered as she left the room. Downstairs the others were asleep, Nikolai on the couch, Dempsey and Takeo on the chairs.

She got a glass of water and downed the whole thing, then went back up to her room where Richtofen was still sitting on the side of her bed.

"What do you want exactly?" she questioned, rather annoyed now of his presence.

"I know vhat Sam said to you, I can hear her talk sometimes." He replied. There was an awkward silence between them.

Rune decided to sit on the front end of the bed.

"So you heard what she said, huh?" she muttered.

"I did…it depends on vhat you tell me zhat vill influence my opinion on it." He answered. She looked away to try and hide her face from him.

"Well….what she said….it was true…but…..I'm not sure if…..if I can….or you…." she paused and let out a frustrated sigh," I don't know if…..you'll take it the way that I thought you would…..God I'm terrible at this." She stopped.

"No one's ever any good at admitting zheir feelings, if it makes you feel any better it took me five years to gain ze courage to ask my first crush out." He admitted trying to cheer her up.

"I don't think you get how much it is to me…." She replied.

"Are you sure about zhat? Zhen it must be easier to write your feelings on paper und zhen throw zhem avay."

She kind of lifted her head a bit, but then hung it back down again. Her hands clutched her pants legs and she kept trying not to let him see her face.

"Zhen perhaps its more zhan you just 'like' me?" he ushered.

"Maybe it is…" she replied quietly.

"But vhat if zhat's not ze case, unless you say so it vill never be ze case."

He moved beside her and put his hand on her shoulder. She tried to keep her hands from shaking.

"I….I do…I have a more than a….liking for you…..the day I found out who you were….I became obsessed. Now I feel….that it's something other than obsession." She hesitated.

"You can tell me, you're so close." He assured. With a feeble courage she looked up at him.

"I love you. I love you and….it's…" she managed. He stopped her trembling hands and smiled.

"Zhat's all you had to say."

Her face was bright red from blushing and she closed her eyes. She felt the trickle of a single tear run down her cheek.

"Zhere's no need for crying. You don't have to vorry, I'm not leaving you or telling you zhat zhere's something wrong vith you am I?" he stated as he wiped the tear from her face.

"So do you….love me too?" she asked softly when she opened her eyes again. He grinned and kissed her on the forehead.

"If you sincerely do, zhen so do I." he answered before getting up off the bed.

"Are you going to sleep now?" she asked.

"I'll try to; you need to get some more sleep. I'll see you in ze morning."

He left the room and Rune fell back on the bed. She grinned and put herself back under the covers. _That went better than I expected it to. _With that thought she closed her eyes and was slowly lulled back into sleep.

***"These men all fought for the same reasons and came to the same end. But did they know their fates? Did they realize that they would sacrifice everthing for their cause?"**


	10. Chapter 10

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 10

**Hello reading peoples! I have to be honest I do believe that I rushed a bit too much with the last chapter. I'm no good at writing into love scenes so I guess that's why, but on another note, I don't think I'll be updating tomorrow seeing that it's Easter and I'll be doing things. So in case I don't update you all know why.**

The weather outside was drab and wet. Rain poured down and the streets reflected the light of the weak sun behind the clouds.

"Ah, don't tell me we have to put up with that weather." Dempsey complained.

"If we're going to get some weapons then, yes, we will." Rune answered.

As much as she hated the idea of encountering any zombies in the rain and soon to be thunderstorm, it was better to be prepared now than to be sorry later.

"I don't like the looks of this weather. Something tells me that it is only going to get worse." Takeo warned.

"Zhen ve should get going before it does get vorse." Richtofen suggested.

Nikolai nodded in agreement with the German and opened the door. The wind had picked up since the rain started; trees bended in the wind and a few grocery bags tumbled around the area.

"We don't have a lot of time to waste so let's go." Rune urged. They went for the car and piled in.

This ride would be a lot longer than the previous ones. The closest gun shop was two towns over, nearly a half hour drive. If Rune's hunch was right there would be some guns left there, but if it had been raided often they were screwed. She couldn't quite explain it, but there was something in her that made her worry about today, like something awful was going to happen. It may have been because of the weather, or maybe she was being paranoid.

"Keep taking the highway this time. We'll get there quicker that way." She instructed Dempsey.

"So vhen is ze vorst part of ze storm going to hit us?" Richtofen asked. Rune checked the weather app and she cringed on the inside.

"An estimated forty to thirty minutes." She relayed.

By the way it looked outside; it was going to be sooner than that.

When they got to the town they noticed that some of the roads had been blocked off. Some of the road blocks had been tagged with gang signs.

"Oh, shit. That's definitely not good." Rune admitted.

"What's not good?" Nikolai asked.

"There are tags on some of the road blocks, which mean there are gangs in the area. Pray to God they aren't interested in robbing us right now and they're occupied with their own problems."

The further in they got into town the more signs they saw. Some of them had been sprayed over with a rival gangs' tag or blacked out with spray paint entirely.

"The shop isn't too far away from here, just take a right at this intersection and it'll be the second building to the right." Rune instructed. Sure enough it was there, unfortunately there were tags all over the place.

"We better haul ass and get what we need as quick as we can." Dempsey suggested. With that he parked the car behind the shop and they got out and ran to the entrance. Luckily the door was already unlocked and to their surprise a good assortment of weapons still remained. Ammo boxes were conveniently stacked near their appropriate weapons and the guns were all hung nicely.

"All right guys take a few guns, preferably one assault rifle, a sidearm, a secondary rifle and make sure you get a good blade." Rune suggested. They took no time in getting it done. She was lucky to find some particularly smaller guns she could use and a nice hunting knife. The others took to bigger weapons like AR15's and M4 weapons.

"Get the ammo and let's go before someone sees us." Rune urged. Each took several boxes of ammunition and sprinted out back to the car. Once every one was in Dempsey started up the car and got out of the lot as fast as he could without drawing unnecessary attention. As soon as they were in the clear, Rune started to chuckle a bit.

"That was a bit exciting wasn't it?" she giggled.

"Heh, yeah it kinda was." Nikolai admitted.

"Stealing stolen property? I can admit that it was a bit fun." Dempsey added.

On the way back home they noticed a few stray zombies wandering the highway.

"Oh I hope they do not follow us home." Takeo prayed. They watched as they passed by them. The sound of the car made them perk up and they started to shamble in the direction they were headed.

"You had to jinx us didn't you Takeo." Nikolai groaned.

Rune clutched the semi-auto MP5 she'd just obtained.

"I really hope we don't have to fight them off." She hoped under her breath. The further they went along the highway the more they found.

"Why are there so many of them now?" Dempsey asked.

"Perhaps zhey smell ze scent of ze living?" Richtofen guessed.

Whatever the reason was, there were definitely more of them around. The weather was picking up rapidly now. The rain was pummeling the ground and the clouds became darker; the sound of thunder echoed upon the horizon. Home was just a few more minutes away, but for the time being it felt like an eternity.

As soon as the car shut off they hurried with their loot back inside the house.

"Do you think they'd follow us all the way back here?" Rune questioned.

"Zhey are very persistent so I believe zhey vould." Richtofen answered.

"Then we should hurry and get these weapons ready." Takeo urged.

Rune had a multitude of problems with readying her guns. The only gun she'd ever shot and fired was a .357 Magnum, and that was only once when she was fourteen. The others happily helped her get ready and taught her a few things as well. Once they were ready they watched the road and highway for the shambling corpses to arrive at their doorstep.

"Ze vorst part about fighting zhese things is vaiting for zhem." Richtofen muttered. The worst of the storm was now upon them, thunder and all. The trees strained under the wind force and the rain struck the ground with a vengeance. Small, crooked figures crossed the highway and walked slowly to their location.

"There they are…." Rune shuddered, as she tightened her grip on the MP5.

"Remember, don't get trigger happy and use controlled fire." Dempsey reminded. She nodded affirmatively and watched the zombies come ever closer to them.

"Get ready to fire." Dempsey warned.

Rune put her finger on the trigger and prayed in her head she would actually hit something. Takeo opened the door and they stood on the porch ready to fire at any moment. The winds made her hair dance and her jacket flap furiously.

"Here they come, shot!" Dempsey yelled.

She aimed at one she thought she could manage to hit and pulled the trigger. The first shot she missed so she fired again and again. The others dropped them like flies; they didn't even strain a bit. After the fifth time she finally managed to hit it and every time after she got a shot in. Once that zombie dropped she aimed for another but found that the others were all dead.

She was kind of disappointed she couldn't get another. Richtofen noticed she was upset and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't be upset, you did pretty vell to get one. It takes time und practice to get good at zhis." He assured.

"Thanks for the encouragement." She replied, trying not to blush.

"Let's get back inside; this storm is very bad now." Takeo ushered. They all followed through with that suggestion and went back in.

Later in the day, after lunch was eaten and dinner done, Rune stepped outside for a while. The storm had mostly passed and what remained was a persistent sprinkle and fair wind. The darkness of the night was only penetrated by the street lights. The smell of the earth after the passing a long rain calmed her senses and let her think.

The dream she'd had last night was still on her mind. The young man had made her think the most. His question made her really wonder what she truly thought of war and it's price. But why did he ask such a thing and why would she have such a dream?

She looked out into the night, and saw something that drew her attention. Another figure; this one didn't seem undead though. It was walking perfectly normal and seemed to be looking back at her. She tried to make out who or what it was.

She went out on the porch steps, but still couldn't tell.

"Hey! You over there!" she called.

"Yeah!?" the figure replied, the voice was distinctly female. She blew a sigh of relief.

"Oh thank god, I thought you were a zombie for a second!"

When the girl got into to the light she saw that she was quite ragged. Her auburn hair was unkempt and tangled; her clothes were caked with mud and grime.

"Good to finally find a normal person. I've been wondering for days trying to find others and I'm so glad to have found you." She explained.

Rune opened the door back inside.

"Hey guys, we've got a survivor to help." She called. The four immediately got up and rushed to the door.

"Is he hurt?" Takeo asked.

"I'm not a guy." The girl barked.

They backed off as soon as they realized it was woman. When she came inside they all got a better look at her. She seemed like a polar opposite to Rune, appearance-wise.

Her eyes were a deep brown color, compared to Rune's bright blue eyes they were a straight contradiction. The girl's hair was short while Rune's was nearly three times as long. The only thing that they seemed to share was their skin color; a light apricot with a slight pale undertone. Another thing that seemed to stand out was a scar across her hand.

"So what's your name?" Dempsey asked.

"My name is Emily….Emily Jordanson."


	11. Chapter 11

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 11

**Hey guys, Easter's done and over with for this year. And now the next installment of Untoten Kreuzung! :)**

After searching through her clothes for a while Rune found something for Emily to wear while she washed her clothes.

"Here, while you're at it why don't you take a shower? Get all the dirt and grime off of you, it'll make you feel a whole lot better." Rune suggested as she handed the clothes off to Emily.

"All right, I have been feeling a bit sickly lately." She agreed.

Back downstairs the four men were discussing something in a hushed tone and when the two girls got back they quickly stopped. Rune gave them a cross glare and showed Emily to the bathroom.

"I'll be back with a towel in a moment." Rune said as she walked back into the living room. She stopped and looked at the four.

"I don't want any kind of dumbass behavior just because we've got a new guest who happens to be a girl." She warned and took off to the laundry room to find a towel.

"She expects us to behave? Doesn't she know we haven't been around women for two years?" Dempsey complained.

"If you had any self control, American, you could actually conform to her request." Richtofen insulted.

"Shut up, Gay-tofen, everyone knows you like men."

"Actually, I'm bi-sexual, I go both vays."

Dempsey shook his head and tried to forget what he just heard. Rune came back through and headed to the bathroom again with a towel.

"Here's a towel, the shampoo is in the rack at the back of the tub as well as everything else. If you need anything don't hesitate to ask." She stated before closing the door.

"Do we have any leftovers from the soup?" Rune asked when she got back into the living room.

"I think so; I put the pot in the fridge." Nikolai answered. She went into the kitchen and opened the fridge. Sure enough there was some left.

Twenty minutes later Emily came into the living room with her new clothes on and her hair wrapped in a towel.

"Emily, we've got soup left over if you want any." Rune informed.

"Thanks, I'll get some then, I still feel a bit sick maybe eating something will help." She replied.

"Oh, if you don't mind could you put your old clothes in the laundry room please. I'll wash them tomorrow."

Nikolai sat back in his chair and kind of hid his face.

"I have very bad feeling right now." He declared.

"Well you should, because I feel that everyone should clean themselves up. So who's going first?" Rune asked. None of them moved, they just looked around, hoping to get out of it.

"Fine then, I'll go first since you guys won't. If you don't have a decision on who's going after I'll choose you all myself."

"But you realize ve don't have a change in clothes, right?" Richtofen informed.

"My step dad was about your guy's size you can go upstairs and find clothes that fit you." She replied.

Rune went upstairs and got a change of clothes then went to take her shower. The four guys rummaged around in the dresser for something they would actually wear.

"Our size, this guy was probably our size ten years ago." Nikolai commented holding up a shirt that was fairly oversized.

"It is better than nothing." Takeo replied.

"Tak's right, you wouldn't want to go around in your underwear around the new girl would you?" Dempsey added.

Nikolai mumbled some Russian curse under his breath and resumed his search for anything he deemed he could wear.

"Ah, he ve are. Vhat a nice suit, a shame he left it behind." Richtofen commented on the business suit.

"Where'd you find that at?" Dempsey asked.

"It vas in ze closet hier, go ahead take a look, who know's vhat else is zhere."

Rune finished her shower and came out, still drying her hair with her towel. She noticed the four had found clothes for themselves, and chuckled at their choices.

"So you found his stash of old clothes, huh?" she commented.

"Ve did, und I have to say, he didn't have zhat bad of taste." Richtofen replied.

"All right then, so who's going first?"

They were all quiet again, like taking a shower was some kind of taboo to them.

"All right fine then, I guess I'll just have to pick, Nikolai." She decided quickly, like she'd planned to pick him in the first place.

"You little she-devil." He grumbled.

"Let's go Nikolai, time's a wastin'." She urged.

When he came out he looked like a drowned rat. Without the beshanka he looked like a whole different person. His hair was a light brown, and matted which made it look like he had a ragged mop on his head. Rune couldn't help, but laugh and apparently neither could the others, including their new arrival.

"Piss off, all of you." He grumbled taking his dirty and blood stained uniform to the laundry room.

"All right, who's next?" Rune asked. Dempsey tried to point at Richtofen subtly.

"Thank you for volunteering Dempsey." She chose with a comical grin on her face.

Dempsey muttered to himself as he headed to the bathroom.

"Zhat'll teach him, dummkopf." Richtofen snickered.

When Dempsey came out he clearly wasn't happy.

"Whose bright idea was it to hide all the guy's stuff?" he questioned. Nikolai took a long drink of vodka and looked over at the TV. Dempsey squinted harshly at the Russian.

"Before a fight breaks out, who's going next?" Rune asked.

"I will go next. I want to get it out of the way." Takeo volunteered.

"Well, at least he volunteered. Which most likely means that Ed doesn't get the warm water?" Rune mused.

"Oh you vould like zhat vouldn't you?" Richtofen replied. She just looked the other way and didn't say a word.

Takeo's mustache was dabbled with water droplets that kept cascading down his face.

"Hey, look! Takeo's got his own water slide." Nikolai laughed.

"At least I took a shower on my own accord unlike you." He retorted.

"You need to get that monkey smell off of you anyway." Nikolai returned.

Rune stared at Richtofen and raised her eyebrows.

"I'm going, I'm going. No need to tell me twice." He assured.

"Hehe. Dicktofen gets to take a cold shower, serves him right." Dempsey commented.

His took the longest by far.

"Oh, look he didn't die in there." Dempsey mused when he came back out.

"Be quiet Dempsey, I took ze time to shave, unlike you." Richtofen replied.

"Da, you took the time to shave your legs. Am I right Dempsey?" Nikolai laughed. The two shared in a long fit of laughter.

"All right, all right that's enough, we have a guest." Rune warned politely. Now that they were all clean, (well for Nikolai a bit cleaner) it was time to sit back and watch Netflix.

"So what to watch tonight…what do you guys think?" Rune asked.

"We should finish "Surviving the Cut" I kinda like this new training stuff they have in this time." Dempsey suggested.

Emily whispered something in Rune's ear and they both got sinister grins.

"What was that? What did you just tell her?" Dempsey questioned.

"Oh no, I'm getting a bad feeling again." Nikolai declared. Rune went to the search bar and quickly typed in every full grown man's worst nightmare.

When the series came up Nikolai's eye twitched.

"Oh shit, this is really bad." He warned. Rune hit the X button and crossed her arms like she'd just achieved some kind of award. Emily and Rune both shared a girlish laughter.

Then, the theme song played.

"My little pony, my little pony, ah ah ah ah~"

"Fuck this shit! I'm out!" Dempsey yelled and headed upstairs.

"Wait for me!" Nikolai shouted.

"You are forgetting me as well!" Takeo chased after the other two.

Richtofen sat in his chair and just face palmed.

"Wow, I'm surprised at you Ed. You didn't run like a pansy." Rune commented.

"It's only out of courtesy zhat I vill stay und try to endure zhis." He replied.

"Courtesy, did I miss something?" Emily asked.

Rune looked at her and leaned over to whisper something in her ear.

"Oh~, I see. Wait isn't he a bit old for you I mean…." She was cut off with Rune's stern glare.

"Sorry I didn't mean it that way. I mean, these are some odd times. Guess love can be found in the oddest of couples." She apologized.

"We aren't even official yet…..this just happened last night." Rune giggled.

Emily chuckled a bit with her and then looked over at Richtofen who was staring back.

"Don't mind me, your gossip von't harm me. I learned a long time ago not to listen to ze terrible zhings others say to me, of course I grew up in a different time." He stated.

"I would say so, when did you grow up in, must've been like the sixty's or something like that?" she commented.

"Ze sixty's, if only I grew up zhen, I vas zhere vhen….oh hold on Vorld Var I ended vhen, exactly?" he contemplated.

Emily gave him an odd stare.

"World War I….wait how old are you exactly?" she asked bewildered.

"I'm only thirty-seven. Though ve have been time traveling so….in all honesty I vould be one hundred und seven." He answered.

"Time traveling; what…..who are you….what are you?"

"Emily calm down, don't you know about the Call of Duty Zombies mode?" Rune asked her.

She thought for a moment and then nodded.

"Well these guys are the people from the game mode…." Rune explained. Emily kept looking at her like she was crazy.

"You don't believe me do you?"

"Not in the slightest."

Rune sighed and rubbed her forehead trying to think of how to clarify.

"All right I can't figure out a way to explain this so can you just bear with me the idea that they are time travelers and just stick with that?" she asked.

"I guess so." She replied.

"Good, so can we just watch this is in peace and try to forget this incident ever happened?"

Emily nodded and that was enough for them to keep watching "My Little Pony". This incident wouldn't be the last odd thing to happen, however. More pressing matters would come about and they would test the integrity of the group as a whole.


	12. Chapter 12

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 12

The next morning was a slow one; there was no fighting among the group. Not a single insult flew from anyone's lips and in fact it was a welcome change. The only thing there was to note was that Emily's complains of feeling ill were increasing and it seemed like it was a legitimate sickness. She looked a bit paler than last night.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay here and rest?" Rune asked Emily. She shook her head as she picked up her recently washed brown jacket.

"I'll be fine; it's probably just a cold." She insisted.

"All right, but the moment you feel like it's something else don't hesitate to tell us. We definitely don't want illness to spread."

They walked back into the living room where the four men were waiting with their old clothes back on. Now that they were washed you could see the details that were covered over by dirt and blood stains.

"So today we are going to survey the area and determine escape routes, should the need arise." Rune went over.

"Where do we start?" Dempsey asked.

She sat down at the coffee table with a map of the local area that she'd torn and pieced back together from the phone book.

"We won't have to take the car for this so we'll check the town up until the park boundaries and down until the elementary school."

"Vhy zhere, can't ve go further? Say about hier." Richtofen commented and pointed to the local river.

"If we have time we can." Rune answered.

She packed up the map and grabbed a red marker off the top of the TV.

"We'll go in two groups of three. How do you guys want to divide?" Rune questioned.

"I'm not goin' anywhere near Richtofen." Dempsey declared; so much for the peaceful morning.

"In zhat case I'm not going anywhere near Dempsey." Richtofen retorted.

Rune smiled and pointed at Dempsey, Nikolai, and Takeo.

"You three get to be a group and Ed will come with Emily and I." she decided.

"Ugh, do I have to be with Takeo. He still smells like he fucked a monkey." Nikolai complained.

"At least I do not smell like a dead pig that rolled in his own feces." Takeo returned.

"Can we please not do this today, guys? I'm not in the mood." Rune sighed. They got up and shifted uncomfortably from each other.

"Now let's get going, we're wasting daylight."

They split up into the groups and headed in opposing directions. Dempsey, Nikolai and Takeo took the area to the park and Rune, Richtofen and Emily took the area to the elementary school.

"So, Emily, where did you come from before you ended up here?" Rune asked.

"I wandered here from St. Louis, after my friends and I thought we could handle surviving the zombie apocalypse. We were so stupid." She answered solemnly.

"St. Louis…..I vas vondering vhich state ve vere in….vhich one is zhis?" Richtofen wondered.

Rune started walking backwards to address Richtofen's question.

"We're in Missouri; to be specific we're at least seventy miles out of St. Louis." She answered.

"So you vere valking for a vhile veren't you?" he commented. Emily nodded and rubbed her wrists nervously.

"In fact I was born in St. Louis, but my mom and dad moved here a little bit after I was born. They didn't like city life, and I don't blame them." Rune stated.

"Lucky you, I never liked living there I always wanted to move to a little town like this, but my mom and dad wouldn't leave because of work." Emily informed.

"Must've been hell trying to go to sleep at night knowing that your stuff could have been easily stolen at any time."

"Yeah, at least we lived next to a policeman; that helped a bit."

After walking under the highway bridge and past the plaza they stopped and looked around.

"Well, this place looks as empty as it usually does. To think this plaza was so busy when I was little and now it's so desolate." Rune commented as she took out the map and red marker and wrote something on the map.

"Umm, Rune, is that smoke normal?" Emily asked as she pointed at the tree line down the road.

"It smells like….trash burning, vith gasoline, und rubber." Richtofen informed.

"It must be a car then, let's go. Maybe someone is in it and hopefully still alive." Rune urged before taking off to the smoke column. It only took a brisk run to see that it was indeed a car.

It had crashed into a tree and smoke was puffing out of the hood.

"C'mon, we need to see if someone needs our help!" Rune exclaimed before taking off at full speed. When she got closer she noticed the silhouette of a person inside the vehicle, with their face buried in the air bag.

"Hey, hey you, are you okay?!"

Once the other two caught up they saw Rune trying to wrest the crash victim from unconsciousness.

"Hey, get up, you need to get up!" she yelled at the bloodied man. His leg was caught in a mesh of jagged metal and torn flooring. Richtofen came to help her get the man out of the car.

"His leg is caught in ze metal; I don't think ve can pull him out even if he does vake up." Richtofen told her. Emily looked around in the car to find something to help pry the metal apart, she didn't see anything, but she did notice something off about the man.

"Guys, is his skin supposed to be that color?" she asked nervously. Rune looked at his skin and realized that he wasn't dead at all now.

She screamed and let go just before the revived zombie had a chance to grab her. Richtofen pulled out of the car and crawled away from it.

"Verdammt, cretin!" he cursed as he stood up and pulled out his pistol and shot the zombie three times.

"It didn't get you did it?" Emily worried as she looked Rune over quickly.

"No, no I'm fine." She answered.

The shots that Richtofen had fired had agitated the already smoking engine into a roaring fire.

"Oh shit, run!" Rune shouted. Emily and Richtofen both saw the rising flames and took Rune's example. They ran back to the plaza and heard the car explode violently behind them. Pieces of metal slid and fell onto the street.

Shortly after Rune started receiving a call on her phone; she answered it. Dempsey's voice was so loud that Emily and Richtofen could hear him.

"What the hell was that? We heard that all the way from here!" Dempsey's grainy voice asked from the phone.

"There was a car explosion, nothing to worry about though, it had a zombie in it anyway." She answered.

"A car explosion, do you realize how many zombies that'll attract!?"

"I know, but we couldn't help it, that zombie nearly made a meal of me."

After some harsh words were exchanged she hung up while he was shouting mid-sentence.

"Let's keep going, Dempsey's just got his panties in a bunch." She stated and walked back down the road.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Dempsey said with outrage. He pocketed the phone and kicked the ground.

"Did she hang up on you?" Nikolai asked.

"Nah, I felt like putting up my phone while I had a call going." He replied sarcastically. Nikolai put up his hands and backed off.

After letting Dempsey get out his rage Takeo patted him on the back.

"Come on Dempsey, we have much ground to cover." He reminded.

"It's her fault if we get swarmed." He grumbled as he shook off Takeo and headed down the road.

"I don't get it, it was big explosion, I thought Dempsey loved explosions like that?" Nikolai commented.

Walking down the road gave them little assurance that the area was even safe to begin with. They saw zombies locked up in city hall and even more trapped in the windows of some of the small shops. There wasn't a whole swarm, but there were enough to suggest that even more could lie elsewhere in the town.

"What do you think we should do with these guys?" Nikolai questioned.

"We should leave them be, until we have the time to dispose of them." Takeo suggested.

Dempsey looked at the zombies trapped in the city hall. They clawed at the windows and smears of blood followed their hands.

"Poor bastards." He muttered under his breath. He kept walking up the road.

"Hey, Dempsey; don't forget us." Nikolai said running to catch back up to him.

Once they reached the park they looked around for anything that might warrant someone else was still alive here, other than themselves. Nikolai threw rocks into the pond, displacing the lily pads and green algae. Dempsey walked around the jogging path and looked at the abandoned playground equipment. That was when he got a call from Rune.

He looked at the phone and reluctantly answered it.

"Yeah, what do you want?" he asked.

"Get back to the house, there's something you guys need to see."


	13. Chapter 13

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 13

**Sorry for a relatively late update guys, I've been quite busy this week. I promise to make up for the days I didn't update. Sorry to keep you all waiting.**

After a long walk back to the center of town Dempsey spotted Rune, Richtofen and Emily in the liquor store's parking lot. They were crouched there watching the in the direction of the house. Dempsey gave a wave to the three which grabbed Emily's attention who then proceeded to point him out to Rune. She gave him a signal to come to them, but kept watching the house.

"What's so important about the…" he started, but was cut off by a harsh shush. Rune pointed to the house, which happened to be currently investigated by a gang of four ruffians. They walked around the house checking for any unlocked doors, or windows they could get in to. They were clearly of Latino descent and whatever words that the six did hear were in Spanish.

"How have they not spotted us yet?" Takeo asked.

"Either they aren't very bright or they're just not aware of us." Rune answered.

"I've got ze mind to go und teach zhem a lesson. Maybe just cut off zheir little bits first." Richtofen bided his hand hovering above his pistol holster.

"No not yet, not until they attack us. It's better to go undetected so we have the element of surprise." Rune urged.

The four Latinos grouped back up and started conversing about something. Afterwards one of them ran up the porch stairs and tried to kick the front door open, his attempt failed miserably.

"Can ve now?" Richtofen asked delightfully. She watched as the other four tried the same fruitless tactic.

"Now we can." She ordered.

The six got out their handguns and approached the gang at a fast pace.

"Hey, dickheads get the fuck off my property!" Rune shouted in the most masculine voice she could manage. The four immediately turned around and saw them coming to them. One of them pulled out a gun and started shooting, the others ran. Thankfully, the shooter was a horrid shot, his missed his entire clip and when the click of his gun resounded he ran as fast as he could.

"Don't come back again you fuckers!" Dempsey yelled at the fleeing gang. One by one they lowered their weapons and placed them back into their holdings.

"They will be back, and with more numbers." Takeo forewarned.

"Takeo's right, they've got a pack mentality. If they can't take you on with what they have, they'll come back with more." Rune confirmed.

"Guess this means our patrolling is over." Dempsey commented.

Rune nodded affirmatively and headed back into the house. The door had scuff marks from the hooligans and she gave a guttural growl and unlocked the door.

"We'll take them. No matter how many may come." She growled as she came in the door.

"So how are we going to prepare for this?" Nikolai asked.

"We have a building and they'll be outside so that's a plus." She started.

"Vhat about strategy, you know ze vindows vould be very gut to shoot from." Richtofen pitched in.

"And we've got the range advantage, we got assault rifles, they probably just have hand guns." Dempsey added.

Rune sat down on the couch and plotted the strategy in her head.

"All right so what do we do if they do have assault rifles?" she advocated.

"We have protection and they do not. It is a very good advantage over them." Takeo answered.

"We could also set up traps." Emily entered.

"But, vhat kind of traps vould ve set, lethal or non-lethal?" Richtofen questioned.

Rune went into the computer room and got a few pieces of paper and scavenged a pencil. She came back and began to make a sketch of the house and the surroundings within a fair range of about fifteen feet.

"We could make deep pits in the ground so they could trip." Emily suggested.

"Ve should have a few vith something sharp near zhem, so zhat if zhey fall far enough zhey'll get stabbed." Richtofen added, chuckling darkly afterwards.

For at least an hour they debated on tactics to combat their anticipated foes. The sketch on the table was scrawled across with notes and marks for traps and the like.

"They will most likely attack when it is dark." Takeo warned.

"Yeah, it'll be harder to fight them like that." Dempsey commented.

Rune put the pencil down and thought about it for a while.

"That would be a disadvantage to us, unless we turn out the lights in the house and fight completely in the dark. They wouldn't be able to see us and we wouldn't be able to truly see them. It's a double-edged sword." She speculated.

"The good thing is that they won't be able to see our traps as easily, if they attack in darkness." Nikolai added.

Rune nodded and set the papers aside.

"Well, what are we waiting for, let's start preparations." She urged.

Everything was in place; the sides of the house were rigged with deep holes and sharp debris hidden in the tall grasses. It was a long wait for the dark of night to creep along, but they were all tense. It was at eight fourteen that they all were alerted by the light of a flare gun in the distance.

"Everyone, get to your places now." 'Dempsey ordered.

Emily and Nikolai took windows in the front of the house, Takeo and Dempsey took the kitchen and back room windows, while Richtofen and Rune were to cycle the upstairs windows. It was pure silence, like the moments before an old western showdown. The figures of gang members darted from behind houses and from the scarce trees. It was hard to determine how many they had, but it was certain they had the place surrounded.

The first shot rang from one of the gang members who were aiming for one of the kitchen windows. They missed greatly from where Takeo and Dempsey were stationed. The two retaliated and put their war time experience to good use. The flare of the member's gun had given away his position and they had no problem shooting him down with just three shots.

All hell broke loose as shots from both sides filled the air. Bullets whizzed by the six as they shot through the windows at different intervals. Some of the members cried out in pain and surprise as they tripped and most likely broke their ankles with the hole traps. They were easy prey after they'd fallen.

Things were going in the sixes' favor until the crashing of bottles rang out. The gang had resorting to throwing Molotov cocktails, without any regard for where they might land, be them near allies or at their enemies. Rune was having a difficult time getting any kind of kill shot on the assaulters, she was able to incapacitate them, but by that time she had to switch to another threat. She started to get frustrated along with her already present fear.

The numbers of the gang were thinning and soon many of them began to take evasive maneuvers. To some the sight of their fallen brethren was enough to send them running back, but those who ran would not survive for long. A bone chilling screech sent an unholy chill into the hearts of both the six and the gang. Before there was time to react, a mob of at least a hundred zombies stampeded to the sounds of conflict.

The gang members ran for their lives, but it was useless, these were runner zombies. The screams of terror and ungodly pain replaced the sounds of bullet ripping through the air. Common sense told the six to lay low and pray that the zombies wouldn't notice them. By instinct and planning, they all closed the open windows they'd used for fighting and locked them back. They regrouped downstairs to wait out the undead slaughter.

The screeches and roars became more distant and a small sense of security washed over the six.

"Let's check and see if it really is safe." Dempsey suggested. Looking out of all the windows led to same conclusion that the zombies had chased their ground-borne prey away from the house. That didn't mean they were truly safe by any means.

"Just because zhey followed zhem doesn't mean zhey von't be back. Ve should take shifts for vatch if ve plan to sleep." Richtofen declared. It was a viable plan that all of them agreed to. That night they all slept in the living room, taking two hour shifts until dawn.


	14. Chapter 14

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 14

First dawn's light peeked over the horizon as Dempsey stood last watch. The night before had been an exciting one, but beheld to them a rude awakening. He sat on the porch with his AR15 on his lap and his eyes heavy, but watchful. Every moment spent watching for zombies who might have returned from their hunt of the unfortunate gang, made him remember his time in World War II.

He was startled by the sound of the front door creaking open. Rune stepped out onto the porch, her eyes begging to shut again.

"What are you doing up?" he asked in a hushed voice.

"I just got up, thought I might check to see who was on watch." She replied scratching her head and afterwards yawning.

She closed the door behind her and sat on the porch railing.

"It's a bit chilly this morning." She commented.

"It'll warm up." Dempsey assured.

"I'm going to miss mornings like this when summer comes around."

"Why so?"

"It'll be way to freaking hot to do anything at any time of day."

After a moment of silence Dempsey went back to looking out at the surroundings. Rune shifted on the railing and pushed her bangs out of her face.

"What was it like in the military?" she asked suddenly. Dempsey looked at her a bit dumbfounded by her question, but quickly regaining his mental foothold.

"Why do you ask?" he questioned.

"My dad's side of the family was a military one. He was fourth generation to join, and he always told me stories of his time." She answered. It was a better answer than nothing, and Dempsey sighed and slid back into his chair a bit.

"I joined of my own accord, back when America had just declared war on Japan in 1941. I was Marine Corps, best of the best. First day I went to boot camp I'll never forget it. It was all running and orientation, drill sergeants screamin' at ya to hurry up." He reminisced. Rune chuckled a bit and pushed her hair behind her.

"Anyway," he started again, "I was in Shamrock Platoon, and the first real training we got was swimming in the good ol' Pacific Ocean. Me, being an Arizona boy, didn't really pick up on swimming, until that day. I had to learn to swim or drown before I even deployed."

"So you were in California for your training?" she asked.

"Yeah." He answered shortly.

Dempsey sat up a bit in the chair, before he started sliding out of it.

"I had a whole month of training before I got deployed to the Pacific campaign. It was then that I learned to fight like hell." He stopped and quietly lamented. He cleared his throat and began again.

"I was sent to one of the Philippine islands, our mission was to defend the island from Japanese attack. We didn't know it, but they were already on the island, waiting for us to give them an opening. Four nights after being placed there we were attacked. The Japanese had us surrounded and they killed most of the men, but I was knocked unconscious by getting smacked in the head with a rifle. I woke up, soaked and tied up in a half submerged bamboo cage."

Rune had already heard this part of his past, but she let him continue his story.

"There were three Japanese interrogators, only one of them could speak any English, and he wasn't very good at it. He kept asking me questions about what America was gonna do next for their attack. I didn't know so I didn't say anything, I wouldn't have said anything even if I had known. I was in that cage for a week with nothing to eat but a small cup of soggy rice and a few drips of water from a rag. Over the week I had gnawed on the bamboo and weakened the bars enough to where I could break it open, but my hands were still tied. I'd hidden a medal in my…bodily cavities, let's put it at that, and cut myself free."

"Since you're still here I can guess you escaped." She concluded.

"I got out alright, after knocking the shit out of the interrogators and taking their weapons. I ate all that they had and when I did the one who spoke English, he woke up so I got up and finished him off…." He hesitated for a moment, "it was the first time I'd ever killed man."

He was quiet for a long time after that.

"When did you get off the island?" Rune asked. He roused from his grim stupor and resumed.

"When I made it to the shore of the island I saw a US ship not too far out at sea, probably bringing cargo. I hitched a ride with them and told them about what had happened. I got a few medals and from that day on I became an outright badass." He ended, chuckling a bit at his own remark.

She didn't say anything to his story, but she instead looked out at the sun which was now an orange disk hanging low in the sky.

"Do you think we should wake the others up, or let them sleep in?" she asked.

"I don't know, it's up to you. Honestly, I just want to go back to sleep, but it's still my watch." He answered.

"Actually your watch ended five minutes ago, its Ed's watch now."

Dempsey stood up, stretched and let out a long yawn.

"Well, in that case, I'll go wake him up so I can get some last minute shut eye." He said before heading back inside. Rune could hear them inside, and from how Richtofen reacted he was not pleased. Richtofen came outside and noticed Rune sitting on the railing.

"You're already up?" he commented sleepily. She nodded and watched as he sat down in the chair that Dempsey had recently sat in. There was an awkward silence between them, broken in only by the morning birds and fading wind.

"About, the whole….couple thing….are you really into it or are you just backing off?" she started.

Richtofen stretched for a while and looked at her with his piercing green eyes.

"Vell, for one I thought you vere ze one who should determine zhat und two I've been holding off on doing anything because I'm unsure of your stance on zhis matter." He answered.

"So you're waiting for me to tell you what I think?"

"Exactly, und vhy you are bringing zhis up so early in ze day is beyond me?"

She sat on the railing, kicking her feet and thinking for a while.

"I've just been thinking about it recently and I'm confused at what I really need to do. I honestly don't know whether to hit the ground running or try and do this with thought." She admitted.

"Vhat does your heart tell you to do?" he questioned.

That was the last thing she would imagine coming from his mouth, but she really took it into consideration. Inside she felt that she should go on with it, but there was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that told her not to go through. She knew what he was going to try and do in the end, but she thought even harder about it and the chance that she could turn him around and make him change what was going to happen was a driving factor in her now made up mind. She turned to see him waiting for her answer; it was a bit unsettling seeing him staring at her so expectantly.

"My heart tells me to go through with this." She smiled weakly.

"Zhen it's settled, ve're a couple, vithin ze terms of mutual acknowledgement." He concluded.

"Mutual acknowledgement?"

"Vell, yes, ve haven't done anything yet, zhat vould distinguish it as a physical relationship or anything else."

She puffed at his comment and got down off the railing and walked back up the stairs. She had her hands at her waist and stared at him with a half-heartedly cross glare.

"Vhat?" he asked looking at her, but knowing full well what she wanted.

"What would it take to make it an actual relationship?" she asked, trying not to smile.

He crossed his arms and gave her a crookedly sincere grin.

"I don't know vhy you're asking me if you already know ze answer to zhat question." He answered. She gave an annoyed sigh and headed for the door, but before heading in she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Now I know you can do better zhan zhat." He mused. She turned back to him and gave him a semi-long kiss on the lips, before heading inside.

He chuckled a bit, watching her go back inside, trying not to let her face turn red.

"Mein kleine angehende Blume, werden Sie in vollen Blüte mit etwas Hilfe vom Arzt.*" He mused softly.

***"My little budding flower, you will bloom fully with some help from the doctor."**


	15. Chapter 15

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 15

**Five hundred plus views on this story. I'm so excited, thank you all for reading and keeping up with me. Remember that reviews and feedback are always welcome, whether it is criticism or praise. But please if you're just planning to write to me to hate on it, then don't read it, plain and simple.**

It was nearly nine in the morning before everyone had woken up. With the motivation of food and the realization of danger they all got up rather quickly, all except for Emily. She was looking a lot worse than before, and it was clear that she was ill. She was much paler and looked a little green too.

"Emily you need to take it easy today, no going anywhere and don't strain yourself." Rune told her while checking her forehead. She was definitely running a fever.

"You probably have the flu so it'll go away within a few days. Until then we'll make sure you get better."

She got up and went into the bathroom to get a rag to wet and give to Emily to cool her down. When she came back into the living room she saw Richtofen checking her again.

"You don't happen to have any medication for her fever do you?" he asked crouching next to the couch.

"I think so; let me check the medicine cabinet." Rune replied and headed back into the bathroom.

There was aspirin in the cabinet along with other flu symptom relievers and the like. She took what she thought was necessary and came back into the living room.

"This all the medicine that deals with the flu and fever." She stated, putting the bottles on the floor next to him. He looked at each one and inspected the directions.

"Do you have anything for pain? I feel sore all over." Emily groaned.

"There's Tylenol, and Ibuprofen, which would you prefer to take?" she asked.

"Just give me the Tylenol." She answered. The pain pills were always kept in one of the kitchen cabinets, because of how much medicine was in the bathroom.

Rune came back in with a glass of water and a Tylenol pill. Emily got up slowly and took both, taking the pill as quickly as she could without throwing up.

"I hope we don't get sick because of her." Nikolai mumbled.

"Just keep your distance, and you will be fine. On second thought don't do that and get sick, it will do me a great favor." Takeo replied.

"Knock it off you two, or I'm gonna set ya in a corner and make ya hold hands! Got it!?" Rune barked. They shut up and scrunched in their chairs. Emily laid back down on the couch and put the wet rag on her forehead.

"You'll get better soon Emily, I promise." Rune assured.

Nikolai guzzled down his second bottle of vodka for the day and checked in his pack for more.

"Shit, I'm dangerously low on vodka." He stated, closing his pack after taking the second to last one out.

"Come to think of it, we are gettin' low on some basic supplies. Bread, milk, and toilet paper, because someone shits like a horse when he drinks seven bottles of vodka a day." Dempsey pointed out.

"We're going to have to do a quick run to some of the stores." Takeo declared.

"All right, but one of us needs to stay with Emily." Rune informed.

"I've still got designated driver so I can't, and Nikolai's gonna want to get his vodka." Dempsey replied. That left Takeo, Richtofen and herself to watch over Emily.

"I should go with these two to make sure they do not do anything unnecessary." Takeo insisted.

"Then if we need to, Richtofen and I will watch Emily." Rune sighed.

"Then it's settled, c'mon guys. Don't worry we'll be back as quick as we can." Dempsey assured. The three left the house and took off in the car.

It was quiet in the house now that they'd left. Richtofen had gone upstairs to evaluate the damage done to the house last night. Emily's condition got worse by the minute, she was sweating now and she kept complaining that her fever was getting worse. The way she looked didn't give any reassurance that the medicine was doing anything. After she was quiet for a long while, Rune got worried.

"Emily, are you alright?" she asked. She didn't answer her, and was just lying on the couch, not moving a muscle.

"Emily?" she asked again this time moving next to her to check. She tapped her shoulder, but got no response.

"Don't tell me you're dead." Rune prayed as she started shoving her. Emily's body jerked to life and she tried to viciously grab Rune's arm. Rune jumped back, startled at her sudden movement.

"Oh, for a minute there I thought you were…." She paused and caught a glimpse of her eyes.

That moment cost Rune dearly as Emily lunged at her and bit her arm. She screamed in pain and quickly tried to shake Emily off her arm. Richtofen heard her and ran back downstairs.

"Rune vas ist los?" he asked, but as soon as he saw what was going on, he pulled out his hand gun and shot at Emily.

"Get back, Rune!" he ordered shooting two more rounds into the now vicious zombie. The zombie Emily shook on the ground obviously still alive, Richtofen got in close and finished her off with a final shot to the head. The body was motionless now and Richtofen turned to inspect Rune's arm.

"Let me see your arm." He urged.

Rune tried to lift it as much as she could, but the pain was overwhelming. Richtofen lifted her arm and looked at the bite wound.

"Thank Gott, it's not zhat deep, but ve still need to take measures to prevent you from catching vhat she had." He informed.

"No, it's over, there's no way I can survive now. The virus is already in my blood." Rune cried.

"No it's not, trust me, ve have to do zhis as quickly as possible. Vhere do you keep ze rubbing alcohol?" he asked hastily.

"In the medicine cabinet in the bathroom." She answered. He quickly got to his feet and headed for the bathroom. He came back with cotton balls, bandages and the bottle of rubbing alcohol.

"Zhis is going to hurt, but you have to bear vith me." He urged as he searched around in one of his many pouches for his needle and thread. As soon as he found them he tore open the hole in Rune's jacket so he could work with the wound easier.

"Zhis vill sting, but it's necessary." He insisted as he poured some of the rubbing alcohol on the bite.

She cried in pain and dug her nails into her hands as tears of pain streamed down her face. Her right arm shook from the pain and the blood from the wound ran down into her sleeve. Now that the blood had been washed, Richtofen could see the wound more clearly. It would need stitches to heal, but at least it wasn't a bone deep gash.

He did the stitches as quickly and cleanly as he could to spare her the misery. Once they were done he dabbed the cotton balls with the rubbing alcohol and cleaned around the stitched up bite. Her arm still shook, and she didn't even dare to move it.

"All of zhis should help it heal as vell as prevent you from getting ze virus." He assured, wrapping a thin layer of bandages around her bite.

Her tears still fell, but they weren't of pain, they were of sorrow.

"What are we going to do about the body?" she asked quietly.

"Ve should burn it so ve know for sure it vill not come back to attack us again, und it vill prevent us from getting sick on its decay." He answered. She nodded in agreement, but looked at the corpse of the late survivor.

It was now turning a sickening white color and it was starting to give off a stench.

"Vhen ze others get back, ve'll do it." He declared. She was quiet for a moment and then she started to cry again. Richtofen took her into his arms, being careful not to agitate her right arm.

It was ten minutes after the grim conflict that they returned home to see Emily's undead corpse on the floor next to Rune and Richtofen. He explained to them what had happened and they accepted it. Dempsey and Nikolai helped carry the body to the backyard while Takeo went over to the gas station and filled up a canister with gasoline. Rune walked beside Richtofen carrying a piece of alcohol soaked cloth.

They put the body down in the burn pile, and let Takeo douse it in the gasoline. Rune handed the cloth to Richtofen who lit it with a spare lighter and tossed it onto the corpse. It flared into fire and the heat surged past them. The smell of burning flesh was new to Rune, but she did not offend in the moment. She trooped through the smell and watched the fire devour their lost comrade's form.

For that day they did not exchange hateful comments or speak much at all. They were silent for the mourning of their late comrade. That night it was nothing, but dead silence. They all fell into uneasy sleep, one by one.

Rune had a terrible dream that night, a dream of fire and dark figures that danced within the flames. Its message was unclear, and it's meaning more obscure, but it did nothing to help with her emotions. She woke up in the middle of the night and cried herself back to sleep, only to behold another terrible vision that was worse than the last.


	16. Chapter 16

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 16

**Hey guys, sorry for all the slow updating, with end of course exams, and having to play league of legends my schedule's been packed. This chapter was written in a haste, but I felt a little lovey at the end of it. Hope you forgive my lack of consistent updating recently and enjoy the new installment of Untoten Kreuzung.**

It was a long three days after Emily's turning and her death. The five had kept around locally during that time. Roaming zombies would pass by the town, looking for living flesh to feed off of. They laid low when a larger group would come around, but if it were a smaller one they would kill them all to ensure that there were a few less threats in the world.

Rune was fortunate enough to not be stricken with the virus. Over the three days she'd felt just fine, other than the occasional twinge of pain from her right arm. The only major damage that had been left on her was mentally. She'd hoped to make a new friend with Emily, but now that she was gone, a chance for another female companion was gone.

Along with that she'd never seen someone die right before her eyes. The psychological strain that moment sent left her scarred. She wouldn't talk as much and was rarely in a happy mood. She'd wake up in the middle of the night from a nightmare and wouldn't go back to sleep for hours on end.

Her behavior worried the other four, if she reacted like this to Emily's death, how would she react to seeing her own family or friends as zombies? That wasn't the only thing that worried them, however. The increasing number of zombies that were passing by made them feel as though their location had been compromised. Soon, they would have to move to another location.

"Guys, we've got a small group of three coming from the highway." Dempsey informed, looking out the window. The others perked up and grabbed their weapons. It was easy pickings; they were shot in nine consecutive rounds and were no longer any danger.

One good thing to come out of the three days was that Rune had improved with shooting. Of the nine shots that rang out she had three which had hit their mark. She was proud of herself, but then went back to her skulking mindset as soon as they went inside.

"There have been more and more ever since the gang assault." Takeo pointed out.

"At zhis rate ve vill have to leave, before zhere are too many in ze area to defend ourselves from." Richtofen added. Rune sat on the couch with her MP5 out on her lap.

"And where do you suggest we go?" Rune questioned.

The four gave it some thought; it had to be a viable option and had to be a defensible place.

"Honestly, I think we should start looking for the teleporter." Dempsey admitted.

Rune thought in her head of the chances of finding the teleporter.

"Where would we look first, and more importantly, what if it isn't even in this dimension?" she replied pessimistically.

"Ze teleporter is always vith us, no matter vhere ve end up. It's something Samantha likes to do to torture us." Richtofen explained.

"Well in that case then where is it?" she asked.

He shrugged his shoulders, which didn't give much help to the option of finding the teleporter.

"It's hard to say, vith such a large area to search it could be anywhere, maybe even outside of zhis state. However, zhere is a vay ve can track it down." He continued.

"And how would we do that?" Dempsey questioned.

"Simple, just like ze mystery box, the teleporter also gives off a beam of light, but it is blue. If ve find ze beam ve find the teleporter."

It seemed unlikely that they would find it within the area, but even so, with more zombies coming into the town it was their best bet to move on.

"Well, if we're going to look for the thing, we'll have to prepare for a long journey. We need all the perishable food we can take and all the ammo we can find." She concluded. Rune got up from the couch and started to search through the pantry. The other four followed suit in looking for things to take.

After three hours of packing and checking their supplies in the car they went back inside.

"We should stay here for today, and we can get going tomorrow." Rune suggested, going back inside and heading upstairs quickly. She shut and locked her door then proceeded to sit on the edge of her bed. The decision to leave her home was heart breaking to her.

She put her face in her hands and started crying, remembering all the memories she had here and knowing she had to leave them all behind to survive. A knock on the door startled her and she looked up.

"Rune, it's just me." Richtofen verified from outside her room. She wiped the tears from her face and got up to unlock the door.

"What do you want?" she asked, cracking the door open slightly.

"I vanted to check on you." He answered.

"Why?"

"Ze vay you've been acting lately has vorried all of us. I feared you might have come up hier to….do something irrational."

She waited for a moment for him to say something else, but he didn't.

"Did you think I would kill myself?" she asked him grimly.

"I thought of zhat, yes." He answered. She opened the door even more to let him in.

"It's hard to leave hier isn't it?" he speculated. She nodded, and went back to sitting on the edge of her bed.

"I have so many memories here. I've lived here since I was nine years old. All the times I had friends over and all the Christmases…." She started choking up, "I just need time to detach from this place."

Rune tried not to cry, but it was so hard not to. Richtofen sat beside her more closely than he had before and comforted her with his hand on her shoulder. He was startled when she wrapped her arms around him and started to cry full force on his shoulder. He wasn't used to comforting at this kind of level, but he tried his best.

"I know it's not easy to leave a place vith so many memories, I've done so a few times myself. You'll never forget, but vhen you get to a new place you can make new memories zhere und perhaps even better ones." He comforted. She lifted her head off his shoulder and wiped her face a bit.

"I know that, I'm just an emotional person. I know I shouldn't cry…." She was half crying half pity laughing, "but that's just the way my mind handles these things. Honestly, you don't have to worry so much, it's normal for me to cry on occasions like this."

Her laughing was becoming more prominent as she began to remember some of the bad things that happened here.

"You know, there are some things I would like to leave behind in this place." She started.

"Like vhat?" Richtofen asked.

"For one, when I was fifteen my first boyfriend dumped me over the phone, and I almost died by nearly falling out of one of the windows."

Richtofen laughed a bit with her this time, and then she stopped abruptly.

"But I don't have to think about him anymore, because I have you now." She admitted sweetly. Richtofen was good at hiding his emotions, but Rune could have sworn she saw his cheeks redden a bit. She smiled, but then her face turned into one of contemplation.

"Edward?" she started.

"Hmm." He acknowledged.

"When we find the teleporter, can we go back before all of this happened? Before the zombies and before you killed Maxis and found the M.P.D.?"

"Are you sure you vant to go zhat far back? It vill be a different time, und it vill take a long time for you to get adjusted to another time." He warned.

She thought for a long while, and then nodded.

"If I can stop all of this from happening, and get to stay with you, I'll adjust to anything." She assured.

"Zhen can I ask you something?" he entered.

"Yeah, sure." She answered a bit warily. He took her left hand with both of his hands and clasped it.

"If you come vith me, back into my time, vill you promise marry me?" he asked as sincerely as possible. She jumped a bit at his suddenly serious question.

"That's a bit of a jump in a relationship….I mean…when we get there the age difference and the change…I…I don't know?" she rambled flustered over the question.

"Do you realize how many years I've vaited to meet ze right person? After seven failed relationships I've found you. Someone who von't get offended at ze busy life of my occupation, und can handle being alone for extended periods of time."

"You really think that about me….? Even though we've only been with each other for such a short time?" she questioned.

"Of course, you told me how long you vere vith your first boyfriend, remember. To vait so patiently und tolerantly for four years vith someone who turned out to be so rude; Zhat's says a lot about your loyalty und your faith." He explained. She blushed, but this time she didn't look away like all the other times she'd blushed.

"You put it so nicely, and I really do want to be with you….but…" she hesitated.

"Vas?" he asked.

"I'm wondering about how it'll work out when we start wanting children." She ended.

"Leave zhat decision for later, it's too early for you to vorry about zhose things." He persuaded.

There was an awkward silence for a while.

"Ed, before we leave here, I just want to make one more memory." She admitted.

"Vhat is zhat?" he asked letting go of her hand.

"I don't care if it is all the hormones, but I want to do what every high school teenager dreams of doing with someone they love."

Richtofen gave her a startling look, which dampened her hormonal spirits a bit. He gave an awkward sigh and got off the bed, but she followed him.

"What, did I ask too soon?" she questioned hastily.

"Nein, it's not zhat, it's…vell….I need to go und do something first." He answered trying to keep his intentions vague.

Rune laughed, and her face got red.

"Oh, so you need to go get 'those'." She concluded.

"Ja, just….vhen ze others ask….tell zhem I vent to go find some medical supplies in one of ze stores. Oh, by ze vay vhere vould I find ze…uh…condoms?" he asked trying to keep his cool.

"Over at the liquor store, and don't worry I won't tell them." She assured.

He went downstairs while Rune followed behind him slowly. When he left in across the street the others gave odd stares.

"What is he doing?" Dempsey asked.

"He's going to find some medical supplies before we leave tomorrow." Rune answered with a completely straight face.

"Oh, well he better hurry up. I've got a feeling that we'll have more freak bags before you know it."


	17. Chapter 17

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 17

Sleep came easily to all of them that night. The four men had fallen soundly asleep downstairs despite the fact that a painstaking journey was ahead of them. They all slept deeply and it would be rewarded in the long run, because sleep would become rarer as soon as they started moving.

Dempsey was woken up by the light of the morning sun in his eyes. He had slept in the chair closest to the front window. He looked around sleepily at the still slumbering Takeo and Nikolai. One thing he found was out of place was that Richtofen, who had fallen asleep in the other chair, was now missing.

He got up and stretched his limbs before setting out on looking for where the psychopathic German had gone to. He wandered around downstairs; he searched in the kitchen, the computer room, and even knocked on the bathroom door. It was obvious then that he was not downstairs. Dempsey started climbing the stairs to check and see if he was up there.

He walked quietly in the hallway that lead to all the bedrooms, fearing that he might wake Rune with a clumsy misstep. The smell of cigarette smoke caught his interest as he came upon Rune's room. The only one he knew for sure who had cigarettes was Richtofen.

"What the hell is he up to?" Dempsey muttered quietly to himself.

His own question riled him up; he had planned to open the door calmly, but instead opened it quite forcefully.

"Richtofen, what are you…?" his question was cut short by a shrill scream. That was when Dempsey realized he'd walked in at the wrong time.

"God dammit, Dempsey, get out of hier you arschloch!" Richtofen cursed.

Rune covered her chest with the blanket quickly.

"Get out!" she shouted. Dempsey got over his gawking and ran out of the room, slamming the door behind him. He hadn't walked in on them mid session, but he did see both of them stark naked. He returned gravely downstairs where Takeo and Nikolai had both woken up with a start due to Rune's scream.

"What was that about?" Nikolai asked Dempsey as he got off the stairs.

"I…..I don't want to talk about it." He answered, his face turning pale as he sat back down in the chair.

"Zhat arschloch, doesn't he know to knock before entering." Richtofen continued to rant.

"At least he didn't walk in while we were doing something." Rune commented.

"Vhen you see two people butt naked in a bed, you can quickly piece together vhat zhey vere doing." He retorted, putting out his cigarette on the end table. Rune sighed and got out of bed to get dressed.

Downstairs the atmosphere was rather confused and curious.

"So what exactly did she scream about?" Nikolai pushed.

"I told you I don't want to talk about it!" Dempsey insisted.

"Just tell me and I'll leave you alone, is that simple."

"Fine, you wanna know. I walked in on Dicktofen and Rune both cuddling up to each other butt fucking naked!" he shouted.

Nikolai immediately backed off once it clicked in his head. Takeo kept quiet, but it was apparent on his face that he was just as shocked as Dempsey was. When the two came downstairs they received the oddest mixed stares known to man.

"Don't even fucking start you guys, it's not like you're all innocent and shit." Rune warned.

Nikolai threw his hands in the air.

"I said nothing, I don't really care; you two can fuck if you want to. We're all probably going to die soon anyway." He stated his stance. Takeo was silent and just hung his head trying not to make any kind of eye contact. Dempsey, however, had a pit bull's grimace and was making very unwanted eye contact.

"If you've got something to say Dempsey just don't say it." Rune added.

"Oh, but I am gonna fucking say it, and you're not gonna stop me." He said, getting up from the chair and heading straight for Richtofen.

"You've got a lot of fucking nerve, you bat shit crazy fucker! You're sick you know that, sleeping with a fucking sixteen year old!"

He pushed Richtofen who immediately pushed back, and the fists started flying.

"Don't think you're so fucking innocent Dempsey! You vould have done ze same, und zhat's vhy you're jealous!" Richtofen defended dodging fist after fist while launching counter attacks. Nikolai and Takeo both got up and rushed to restrain the two.

"Stop it, both of you! We don't need to start fighting!" Rune begged trying to hold back Richtofen. Dempsey's arms were halted by Takeo and Nikolai; as soon as he was restrained Richtofen stopped fighting.

"Why don't you just fuck off you damn kraut!" Dempsey yelled. Rune stomped over to him and smacked him violently in the face, leaving a distinct red hand mark on his left cheek.

"I fucking warned you not to do it! I will not tolerate this, if you have a bone to pick you talk to me. It was my choice and my idea." She barked.

Dempsey's grimace loosened when he actually looked at her. Tears ran down her cheeks and she was poised to smack him again. He wrestled his arms out of Takeo and Nikolai's grips and gave one last death glare to Richtofen. The air was strife with tense emotion that stung them all.

"What a way to start a morning." Nikolai grumbled, breaking the silence.

After a quick breakfast of oatmeal, grapes and milk they gathered the last of their supplies and headed for the car. Rune tossed the keys to Dempsey who caught them at the last second.

"Even though I'm not pleased with what you did I'll still let you drive." She explained. He didn't show any kind of thanks, he just got into the driver's seat and started the car.

Rune didn't sit up front with Dempsey, she let Takeo take the passenger's seat. She sat in back with Richtofen and Nikolai, though the strong stench of alcohol soon wafted into her nostrils. The small, lingering sadness struck her heart, but she knew it had to be this way. In the back of her mind she thought that she might see this place again someday.

They passed by the towns they had gone through on the highway, and Rune caught quick glimpses of figures. She couldn't tell if they were zombies or if they were survivors, but they wouldn't stop for others, not after the incident with Emily. The chance that someone was infected with the virus was too much to risk everyone else's chance at surviving. Electronic signs dotted the highway; many of them said things like "Evacuation Route to Kansas City" and "Next gas 10 miles".

It was a completely silent ride; no one would talk, not after what happened. The sound of the radio startled everyone, but Dempsey who was the one messing with it.

"Does this thing get any good stations?" he asked, turning the dial and pressing random buttons.

"Its Sirius radio, they have a station for the music you guys listened to back in the forties." She informed.

Dempsey kept messing with the radio, but Rune took the lead and switched it to the station.

"It's a little unnerving zhat zhey still play zhis music in zhis time." Richtofen commented.

"When I drove to school I would turn to this station every now and then, just to get a feel of those times. Besides my grandpa was really old fashioned and he'd play this music when I stayed with him so it's nostalgic in a way." She admitted.

It was two hours into the drive and they had already passed by several other towns that didn't even have a paper bag to their names. The music and road hypnosis struck Rune into drowsiness.

"Are you falling asleep already?" Richtofen asked. She lifted her head off the window and looked at him.

"You can rest on me if you want." He offered.

She took him up on it and she laid her head on his shoulders and fell to sleep.


	18. Chapter 18

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 18

**Finally, I've had time to write! Test after test and errand after errand have kept me away from my passion. Anyway, I hope you all haven't given up on me, I've been so weighed down by a plethora of things. One good thing that comes out of test time is that the end of school is only a few weeks away.**

Rune woke up to the sound of rain patting on the car windows. Looking outside with her heavy eyes she saw that they were stopped at a gas station. The surroundings were unfamiliar to her; Dempsey had probably driven several miles. It was nearly sunset judging by the color of the light, seeing that the sun was blocked out by the gray rain clouds.

"Vell, look who finally voke up from her little nap, it's been a good three hours." Richtofen mused. She rubbed her eyes and stretched her arms.

"Where are we?" she yawned.

"Honestly, I have no idea. Zhere vas no sign to tell vhat ze name of zhis town vas." He answered.

"Where are Dempsey and Nikolai for that matter?"

Takeo turned around to address her question.

"They went to the bathrooms." He replied, pointing to the gas station building.

"Ah, well when they get back we need to find a place to stay." She stated. Not too long after her comment the two did return.

When they got back in the car they noticed Rune was awake.

"Oh, well it's about time you woke up. I just kept taking the highway until I saw the gas meter got low." He commented.

"You won't need to drive anymore today. It's getting late and we need a place to rest." She replied.

"I think I saw a hotel sign when we drove into town." Nikolai entered.

"Then that's where we're staying for tonight." Rune concluded. Dempsey started up the car again and drove past a few buildings before parking closely to the hotel entrance. Hopefully when they got inside there weren't any zombies.

The lobby was empty, except for the stray luggage and suitcases that had been raided long ago. It wasn't a fancy hotel, but it was better than nothing. They checked all the rooms for a door that wasn't locked while keeping their guard up for any of the undead that may have roamed the halls. There were small bits of glass and blood drippings, but they were more than likely caused by the mass chaos that ensued when the evacuation that took place.

"Hey guys look, this room is open." Dempsey spoke, opening the door slowly. Inside the room was a bit torn, the curtains had been pulled shut and the refrigerator near the sink had been forced open. Some empty cans of beer were spread across the floor and a few bullet shells littered the couch.

"Well, this certainly gives a nice ambience." Rune sarcastically complimented.

She picked up the bullet casings and tossed them into the trash can along with the beer cans. Nikolai took to examining the beds, which probably meant he was going to pass out on one of them. Takeo took out his phone and looked at the time.

"It is eighteen hundred and thirty-three hours. We should get a lot of rest for tomorrow." He stated.

Everyone except Nikolai, who as expected, was passed out on the bed closest to the window, was up planning on where they should go next.

"We haven't seen the blue light to tell us where the teleporter is so how will we know if we're going the right way?" Takeo asked.

"Zhat's ze thing, ve von't know until ve see it, und hopefully ve'll see it soon." Richtofen answered.

"Then what's the point of going and looking for the thing when we've only got a one and a million chance to find it?" Dempsey questioned.

It was a good question; it was a long shot if they were really going the right direction to find the teleporter. If they weren't they were screwed and they were it would be all right for as much as they knew.

"If push comes to shove you could always just stay in this dimension and try to survive." Rune suggested.

"'If' push comes to shove, I highly doubt ve vill last long. I've got ze feeling zhat zhey are following us, as though Samantha had just a bit of sway over zhem." Richtofen warned.

They had to think, was it best to move on the way they were going, or should they search around more and check for any clues to where they should really be heading.

"Do you think the teleporter would be put anywhere important?" Rune asked.

"Zhat is a possibility, it vould need a lot of power to vork. Perhaps a power plant, or maybe a large city." He answered.

"Well, let's just hope it's not a large city." Dempsey prayed.

After searching through nothing but channels of static for nearly ten minutes, Rune needed to use the bathroom. It was now dark outside and the patter of rain was still prominent.

"Hey you guys, I'm going to the bathroom, I'll be back." She informed.

"Be careful, you never know if those freaks are hiding somewhere." Dempsey cautioned.

The lights in the hotel were all still on, but Rune really had wished that the bathroom in their room had worked, but it was kind of missing all of itself. She found another room that was unlocked; this one was in better shape than the one they were staying in. She found the bathroom and closed the door, making sure to lock it. If there was one thing she hated, it would have been taking a piss in a zombie apocalypse in a building that hadn't been searched through thoroughly.

"Richtofen, I gotta ask you something." Dempsey grumbled. Richtofen looked at him from across the room waiting patiently for his question.

"Are we taking her with us?" he asked, a bit grimly.

"Vhere else vill she go? She's got nothing left hier, und she certainly can't make it on her own, I mean look at her. Vithout us she'd probably be too hesitant or too timid to do anything." Richtofen answered.

Dempsey put down the can of beer he'd just gotten from the car ten minutes ago.

"How do you know it'll better for her with us? In our dimension it'll be day in and day out of fighting zombies. She might be able to keep up with our pace."

"Zhat's true, but vould you really just leave her to die hier? After all she is ze one who's been guiding us, it's ze least ve could do."

It was then that they heard a bone chilling screech from down the hall. Takeo, Dempsey and Richtofen rushed out the door and ran to the origin of the screams. They saw an open door and ran in to see Rune being held by her hair by a skeletal built man with a prison shank to her throat. They whipped out their pistols and aimed at the aggressor.

"Don't shoot or the bitch gets it!" he warned, pressing the shank closer to her throat.

"Let her go." Takeo calmly asked.

"Not a chance in Hell! Not until I get some supplies and some weapons." He ordered quickly. All of his body, except his shank hand was trembling; the man was obviously a drug addict.

"We will get you supplies and weapons, just let her go." Takeo negotiated.

The man didn't buy it and he kept the shank at Rune's throat.

"You bring me the supplies and I'll let her go." He offered.

"Let's go Dempsey." Richtofen ushered. Those two left cautiously while Takeo kept his attention firmly on the crazed addict.

It was a tense standoff waiting for the two to return with supplies, but it did end nonetheless. Richtofen and Dempsey came back in with crates of canned goods and a few bottles of water; on top of Dempsey's crate was a handgun.

"We got you want, now let her go." Takeo urged. The addict was wary and he still kept the shank at her throat.

"Kick 'em over here and I'll let her go." He ordered. They did as he asked and the addict let Rune go.

As soon as she ran, though, he picked up the handgun and aimed it at the back of her head and pulled the trigger. _Click. _There were no bullets in the gun and his attempt at killing her did not go unpunished. Takeo shot the man's chest and then his leg. He screamed in pain and wallowed on the floor.

"You mother fuckers! I'll fucking kill you all!" he shouted.

"I don't think so." Dempsey concluded pulling out his gun and shooting the addict in the head. Rune closed her eyes; the gory image was too much to bear. The bullet had tore through his right eye and let bits of his brain drain through the wound.

She almost vomited from the visage, but she held it in as best as she could.

"Hurry up; she doesn't need to see zhis much." Richtofen urged, holding Rune so she wouldn't freak out. They closed and locked the door from the inside.

"Let's fucking hope he wasn't infected." Dempsey commented.

They got back to their room at which point Rune couldn't bear it any longer and she vomited into the trash can.

"How can you stand to see gut ridden zombies, but not blood ridden men?" Dempsey asked inconsiderately. She lifted her head out of the trash can and wiped her mouth, giving Dempsey an outright death stare.

"There's a fine line between killing something that's already dead, and killing something that's alive. I've never seen a man killed before my eyes, and I never hoped to." She explained.

"I'd hate to side vith him, but you vere going to end up seeing it one vay or another. It's best you get acquainted vith it now." Richtofen added. Rune got up from the floor and headed to the beds.

"I'm going to sleep, if I wake up in the middle of the night you'll know why." She declared.

It was a very uneasy sleep, and she had very unsettling dreams. The worst of which was not of the gore she'd seen, but one that held a cryptic message like the ones she'd had a while back. It was all confusing, but she could understand the message well when a mass of crows was the last thing she saw. There was going to be much more death, and soon.


	19. Chapter 19

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 19

**Ach, yawn. I've been writing most of this chapter half asleep. I just needed to update so the quality of this chapter will probably be pretty poor. Time for bed.**

The next morning there was still a sprinkle from the rainstorm yesterday. As they packed into the car they saw that a few zombies had moved into the town. They were unaware of their presence which was a very good thing, but from what Richtofen had said last night it only reinforced the theory that Samantha could have some sway in this dimension.

Back on the highway it was a long drive to their next destination. The biggest power plant near this area would be almost forty miles down south. Everything seemed to be moving slow today, even the residual wind seemed to be lagging behind. Rune watched the land pass by as they drove continually on the asphalt snake that was the highway.

"Ugh, does anyone get the feeling that we are being watched?" Nikolai asked shivering slightly. Rune perked up at his question and instinctively looked around for anything suspicious. There wasn't anything out of place per se, but it did feel like they were being watched by something.

"I don't know, but I can feel it too." Rune admitted.

"Perhaps it is the little girl, watching us from the sidelines. Where ever they may be." Takeo suggested. It seemed likely, seeing that she loved to toy with the four men.

"If they little brat doesn't cut it out, when I find her I'm gonna make sure she gets the spanking of a lifetime." Dempsey threatened.

Just then they all flew forward as the car made a sudden halt.

"Dempsey, what the hell is wrong with you!?" Rune cursed. She looked out of the window and saw the figure of the little girl.

"Speak of the fucking devil." Nikolai muttered.

Samantha had a sickly sweet grin on her face and she held her teddy bear to her chest.

"You little brat, I told you to scram!" Rune barked through the front window. She just stood there and kept the smile on her face, which only infuriated Rune even more.

"If I were driving I would have run you over by now!"

Samantha laughed and pointed at the car. This mystified everyone causing them to look around the vehicle.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dempsey asked. Looking back at the front of the car they realized that she was suddenly gone.

"What the….." Nikolai gasped.

A huge thunderclap brought them all to their senses, and they found out that Samantha wasn't pointing at the car, she was pointing behind them. Gnarled visages of dogs came forth from a depression in the road behind them. Their bodies burned brightly with unholy flames that swirled and danced menacingly.

"Drive!" Rune ordered.

Without hesitation Dempsey floored it and they skidded off away from the hellhounds.

"She couldn't have done that, she doesn't have power here." Rune uttered in disbelief.

"She might have figured out how to tap into ze Aether while in other dimensions. If zhat's ze case zhen ve need to find ze teleporter at all costs." Richtofen iterated.

Every now and then one of the five would look back to check if the canine abominations were following them. Luckily none of them showed up, but it was far from a relief. Now that they were being tracked down by those things there would be less rest overall. Despite being safe for now, the five were still on edge, instinctively looking back at the road behind them.

Three straight hours of driving dulled the five over, they were all drowsy and ready to fall to sleep. Signs that predicted nearby towns flew by, there was no time to stop they had to keep going.

"I hate her so much." Rune muttered under her breath.

"Ve all do, Rune. Don't vorry, one day ve vill return ze favor." Richtofen assured.

"All I want to do is get back home and just be able to sleep in all day and drink my vodka in peace. No more running or zombies, just vodka." Nikolai mused. The thought of going home was very appealing to all of them.

"You can keep your alcohol, I will have family to attend to as well find a nice wife to settle with and raise my own family." Takeo entered.

"Ha! I'll be back in Arizona with my little girl taking all the time in the world to watch her grow up." Dempsey added.

Richtofen didn't voice his plans for when he got home which came across as odd to Rune.

"Ed, what are you going to do when you get back home?" Rune asked sweetly. He shook himself out of a light day dream and looked around.

"I'll have a lot of family to deal vith vhen I get back. Of course, I'm always busy, no matter vhat I end up doing." He answered.

"What kind of family issues you got going Richtofen? Bet it's all your bastard children waiting for their checks." Dempsey insulted.

"Actually Demspsey, I don't have any children, but I have been married…once though." He replied.

"You've been married once? What happened?" Rune questioned.

"She died of natural causes, caught a bad case of flu….unfortunately her immune system vas pretty veak in ze first place."

This revelation caused Dempsey to rethink his insult, but for Rune it only made her more curious.

"Where you going to have children?" she asked calmly.

"To zhis day I still don't know. She vas a bit frail, I doubted zhat she vould have made it through child birth."

"Oh, but what if you did?"

"Vhy do you ask so many questions about dead people associated vith me?"

Rune shut up after that and she just sat and looked out the window. The terrified feeling of being chased by the hellhounds was still lingering in her. She didn't want to fight the way that the other four did. She knew she wouldn't last long at their pace and the whole time she believed that they would just go through this dimension without a lot of problems with the undead forces. Now the whole plan she'd made was in ruins, how would she cope with zombies that could see your heat signature and hellhounds that always knew where you were.

"I hope we find the teleporter soon. I do not wish to stay here and fight." Takeo spoke, breaking the silence.

"Let's just hope we are going right way, da. It would be very bad if we were not." Nikolai grumbled.

Rune didn't want to think about the chance that they were going the wrong way so she let the road hypnosis take its course and fell asleep.


	20. Chapter 20

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 20

**Internet how I've missed you! Yeah, my internet has been down for sooooooo long and now that I have it back I must update like crazy! So here's the welcome back installment of Untoten Kreuzung.**

Instead of the few hours the five thought it would take them to reach another destination, it took three days due to many set backs. With a combination of the engine going out and being tracked down by hellhounds, they were beginning to get run down. On survival terms it wouldn't be long before their supplies reached cautious levels, seeing that they were now traveling on foot. Most of the time they spent traveling was on a forced march pace which made it all the more worse for fatigue to set in.

"God damn…" Rune managed trying to catch her breath, "how much longer do we have to march like this?"

"Until we find a good place to hide out for a day or two, we're gonna keep trucking." Dempsey answered. He kept ahead of the others, the way he looked it didn't even seem like the marching was that hard. At least Rune was ahead of Nikolai, who was half stumbling-half marching.

They'd been at it since dawn and they only rested for water and food. At this point Rune was getting a glimpse into the experience of the military, something she would have done anyway had the virus not started.

"One thing that I will not have to worry about is being the first one to get eaten by the dogs. The Russian has that covered." Takeo jested.

"If I were one of those dogs I would turn your innards into chop suey and then eat you." Nikolai returned.

A few minutes of marching later the sight a small town gave them a resounding hope.

"Thank god. We can take a break." Rune thanked. Upon seeing the town a little closer it was deemed zombie free for the time being and they ran to the closest building. Nikolai and Rune both collapsed on the ground like sand bags.

"Lightweights." Dempsey mocked under his breath. He took out his AR15 and started a quick survey of the area. After a hasty assessment he took a seat on the ground as well.

"From what I can see this place is all right for now." He informed.

"Ve can't stay hier for long. Ve're being hunted und more zhan likely by ze time ve get up tomorrow morning zhere vill be zombies all over hier." Richtofen urged. The other four nodded in agreement, but with their minds muddled with exhaustion the only thing on their minds was rest. It was almost the afternoon and they were sick of marching.

"I hope we find another vehicle." Rune prayed gulping down her water.

"It would be very helpful, I hate marching." Nikolai agreed. Rune was not used to marching for such long distances, but that didn't mean she wasn't entirely new to the experience. Looking back on the time before the zombies she had been part of the high school marching band which helped her endure the marching a little bit.

After a small lunch of sandwiches it was time to scout for a building they could take refuge in for tonight. Nothing seemed to stand out as completely safe, but some were better than others. They all seemed to settle on the abandoned department store. Even though most of the items had been raided it offered the most protection than any of the houses or other buildings.

They took the necessary precautions of putting up barriers on risky places and setting up debris to blockade the doors.

"When we get to that power station that teleporter better fucking be there." Dempsey growled getting ready to sit down.

"We haven't seen any sign of it yet, and that's what bothers me." Nikolai added.

"When we find it I just hope it's not in a god damn Wal-Mart or some huge place like that." Rune admitted.

Out of boredom Rune decided to check her phone, something she'd been neglecting to do. The date astonished her; it was already June 3rd which meant they'd all been together here for almost two weeks. If it took them this long to get to this point, how long would it take to get to their final destination, if they found it first of all?

"You guys realize that we've been in a group in this world for thirteen days." She informed.

The other four thought about this, and they all soaked it in.

"Vell, it's easy to lose track of time vhen all you ever do is try to survive. Everything just seems to mash up into one continuous day." Richtofen commented.

"Plus the fact that the four of us have been traveling through time for about a year makes it difficult to track the date." Nikolai added.

She had almost forgotten that they had been going through this scenario for so long. The sudden recall made her remember another question she had wanted to ask a while back.

"If you guys have been traveling for a year how old are you?" she questioned. The four gave her mixed glances from an 'Are you kidding me?' to a 'Now you're asking?' kind of look.

"Well before this started I was twenty-eight, and with the year of travel that makes me twenty-nine." Dempsey answered.

"Let's see here….uhh….I'm...thirty-six now? Jesus I'm old." Nikolai entered.

"I am thirty now, seeing how I was twenty-nine before we started." Takeo stated.

"Hmm….vith my birthday being vhere it is und ze time travel zhat's two years for me, so I'm thirty-seven." Richtofen answered.

Dempsey thought for a moment and then dismissed it with the flick of his wrist.

"My birthday hasn't passed yet." He muttered, leaving his age the same. Takeo counted on his fingers for the months then shook his head.

"That's two years for me as well, I'm thirty-one." Takeo corrected.

"Ah shit, now I'm even older. Fucking birthdays, making me feel old, thirty-seven my ass." Nikolai mumbled.

Rune thought over their answers, since Takeo, Nikolai and Richtofen added two years, that meant Dempsey's birthday was one of the later months.

"So I take it Dempsey's birthday is in a winter month?" she asked.

"It's not a winter month, it's only November." He cleared.

"That means that the rest of you have early month birthdays." She declared.

Nikolai groaned and scrounged around in his pack for vodka.

"Fucking January of all months, freeze my ass off." He muttered.

"Rain is a natural prelude to my strength for the wet month of April." Takeo proudly declared.

"Ha! You're birthdays are nothing compared to mine. Though you'll never believe me I vas born in ze month of February und it gets better, it vas on Valentine's Day." Richtofen mused.

Dempsey suppressed a laugh and Nikolai kind of gagged in his mouth.

"You were probably an accidental child, I mean look at all the fucked up mental problems you have." Dempsey insulted.

"Oh really Dempsey, I bet your mother had five other children before you und you vere ze baby of ze family. You always vant attention und you're a huge screw up." Richtofen retorted.

"Oh yeah, at least I had a lot of siblings so I wasn't a spoiled bastard like you."

"You think I had it zhat easy in my family? Vhen I vas eighteen my father told me to get lost und to never come back to ze family until I had a career und a family of my own."

It was a heated argument that constantly went back and forth between the two for ten minutes. Rune tuned them out and tried her best to ignore anything they said to each other. Sooner or later they would stop bickering, hopefully. That 'hopefully' came about and the two finally settled down enough for Rune to speak.

"Now if you two children are finished we need to figure out where we are and where we're going next. If you don't mind of course." She started. Richtofen and Dempsey gave each other dirty looks and then turned their attention to Rune.

"Good, now according to my phone's GPS we are heading towards Jefferson City. That's a big no-go-zone because it's a large city and is more than likely crawling with thousands of zombies. There is a place we can go, but it'll basically be backtracking in another direction towards Ste. Genevieve."

"Why go there?" Dempsey asked.

"Good question, there's a chance that the teleporter might be there." Rune answered.

"But vhy zhere, vhy not one of ze bigger cities or towns, zhey vould have a lot more power?" Richtofen questioned.

"Simple, judging by the time it took for the trickling mass of zombies to get into my home town it's the same amount of time it would take to walk from there to Ste. Gen. That may be where the zombies have been coming from and since Samantha is gaining power in this dimension the chance that she might want us to go there were they're spawning is very high."

"So you want us to go into zombie infested territory, fight them off and look for the teleporter in a smallish area that we don't even know about…..Hell yeah I'll do it!" Dempsey agreed. Richtofen shrugged his shoulders and sighed.

"It's vhat it vas going to end up being like anyvay." He admitted.

"If I can find more vodka there, then I will go." Nikolai entered.

"Hai, I will go along with this plan, as desperate as it may be." Takeo agreed as well.

"Great, so we stay here for tonight and then head back in the morning." Rune finalized.


	21. Chapter 21

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 21

**Aww...I tried not to cry when I wrote this, but I just couldn't help it. **

As soon as dusk came upon them the sounds of guttural growls and watery hissing brought the five's senses to their heights.

"Zombies, already, but how did they find us so fast?" Rune asked while picking up her MP5.

"They were probably already here and now they're stirring for a nighttime snack." Dempsey proposed.

"I really didn't want to have to do this." She groaned.

"Vell it's a bit late for zhat now. Trust me zhis is going to be getting more und more often." Richtofen replied.

Outside the windows the glare of the zombies' sickly yellow eyes put them on edge. At first there were at least three, but as the sun sunk behind the horizon more appeared and the five soon realized that this was going to be a full fledged fight to survive.

"It is time to send those demons back to their graves." Takeo stated before firing the first shot. The zombie that he hit replied with an unholy shriek that caused most of the undead to start charging at the building.

"Dammit Tak!" Dempsey yelled quickly firing at the zombies closest to the building. They all opened fire on any zombie in sight causing the undead to freak out and start running at them. They were all runners and they were difficult to kill as well. The clunking and breaking of the boards on the back windows made the five nervous.

"Whose got the back windows?!" Dempsey shouted over the gunfire.

"On it!" Nikolai replied quickly darting to the window next to the bathroom and unleashing a flurry of bullets to the four zombies clawing their way in.

"I'll take the other back one!" Rune yelled. She hastily reloaded and made a beeline to the back room of the store.

Just before one of the zombies could get in Rune blasted its brains out with a well placed headshot, the other two that were outside were dealt with quickly after. At the front of the shop the zombies just kept coming and with more and more encroaching upon them there was no time to aim, they just shot what they could.

"Schtay avay child!" Richtofen screamed pulling his arm away from a zombie that had just tried to grab him. Instinctively he turned and shot it three times before it collapsed.

Dempsey grabbed one of the grenades he'd been saving on his bandoleer and pulled the pin.

"Eat this you fucking marrow jockeys!" he yelled tossing it into the undead mass. The resulting explosion killed at least six of them, and made three more legless.

"Oorah!"

It seemed like an eternity, but the horde was beginning to thin out. At the back of the store Nikolai and Rune had kept the zombies at bay pretty well. All that remained when true night descended were just four crawlers.

"Hey Nik, Rune, you guys good back there?" Dempsey asked lowering his AR15.

"Yep, I killed them all at my window." Nikolai responded proudly.

There was no response from Rune which worried the other four, they went to the back room and saw an unfortunate turn take place. She was sitting in a corner with her eyes wide and her MP5 clutched tightly in her hands.

"Rune what is wrong?" Takeo asked kneeling beside her. She said nothing and stayed in her terrified state.

Richtofen looked over at the zombies she had killed and noticed that one was just barely alive, still reaching for Rune.

"That one's a twitcher." Dempsey commented and aimed his AR15 at the pitiful thing.

"Dempsey, no!" Richtofen halted him. On closer inspection the zombie had a striking similarity to Rune, it had the same dark brown hair, and facial structure but it was distinctly male.

"Just vatch it, don't kill it…not yet anyway." Richtofen ordered. Dempsey lowered his gun and just stared at the pitiful mass of decaying flesh. Richtofen kneeled beside Rune on the opposite side that Takeo was on.

"Rune, I need you to cooperate vith me. I vant you to nod your head for 'yes' und shake your head for 'no'. Do you understand?" he asked slowly and calmly.

She nodded slightly, but otherwise kept the same position.

"Is zhis one of your family members?"

A nod for yes.

"Is it a brother?"

She shook her head.

"A relative?"

Another shake of her head.

Richtofen sighed compassionately and pried the MP5 from her hands.

"It's you father…isn't it." He concluded. Rune's eyes filled with tears and she let out a shrill and painful cry.

"Daddy!" she cried and then buried her face in Richtofen's chest.

"Easy now Rune, be still, shh." He hushed.

"Daddy, why?!" she sniffed.

"It's not easy I know. Just let it out." He calmed brushing her hair and rubbing her back. He turned to Dempsey and gave him signal with his eyes.

Richtofen kept her calm as he fiddled around in one of his pouches.

"Everything vill be okay Rune." He continued pulling out a small syringe with clear liquid inside.

"Edward what are you….?" Takeo tried to ask, but he was cut off by a harsh look. Richtofen pushed the syringe through her sleeve and into her arm.

Rune cringed a bit, but still cried into his shirt.

"Just go to sleep. Everything vill be all right in ze morning." He assured. Her crying lessened and soon she was completely silent with her arms no longer straining.

"Why'd you do that?" Dempsey questioned him grimly.

"It vas either zhis or shot her father right in front of her, vhich vould you have preferred?" Richtofen replied.

Dempsey just stayed quiet and turned his attention back to the nearly dead zombie.

"So should I finish the deed?" he asked. Richtofen nodded to which Dempsey aimed his rifle at the zombie who was still reaching for his daughter. He pulled the trigger and let loose a single shot that put him to rest.

"We should move…when she wakes up she will not like this." Nikolai suggested after a long silence.

"I agree, she doesn't need to see this when she wakes up." Dempsey entered.

"Vhere do ve go? Another building, another town, vith those zombies out zhere ve von't last very long." Richtofen asked.

"We could go to one of the buildings we found earlier, that would be best." Takeo suggested.

Dempsey nodded and slung his AR15 behind him. Nikolai finished off his bottle of vodka and wiped his mouth. Takeo stood back up and offered to help Richtofen with Rune.

"I can handle it Takeo." He responded to his gesture. He lifted Rune with one arm under her legs and another at the crook of her neck, and then proceeded to stand up with a little difficulty.

"All right then, let's go." Dempsey urged. They walked out of the battered store with Takeo holding the door for Richtofen. They rushed across the cracked street and hurried along the sidewalk to a simple one story house that had the windows broken in. At this point it didn't matter where they stayed, as long as it could offer decent protection and a place to sleep.

The door's lock was already broken so they could easily open the door to get inside. The living room was small, but it still retained it's furnishings as old as they were. Richtofen placed Rune on the dark blue couch and took a seat next to it. Takeo turned on the lights and closed the door, but he opted to stand next to the door rather than take a seat.

It was another long quiet before anyone did anything of note. Nikolai headed into the kitchen to scavenge for more alcohol.

"Nikolai it is not wise to pillage the houses of the dead." Takeo warned.

"Shut up Takeo, is not for me." He replied gruffly.

"Then who's it for?" Dempsey joined in.

Nikolai opened the cabinet quite noisily and grabbed a half empty bottle of Budweiser. He came in and sat back down in the rocking chair next to the three legged coffee table.

"This is for Rune when she wakes up." He answered.

"Are you serious, Nikolai?" Dempsey asked in disbelief.

"Trust me Tank. She will need something strong to douse the pain."

"That doesn't mean you need to kill her brain."

Richtofen shushed both of them and took out the syringe that he'd used for Rune. He got up and disposed of the syringe entirely.

"It's however she vants to deal vith it Dempsey. If she vants to drink to ease her sorrows let her, you're not going to stop her." Richtofen entered.

"Who is going to stand first watch?" Takeo asked. The other three looked at him then stared at the ground. Dempsey shook his head and got up.

"I'll take first watch. Nikolai you're next." He volunteered.

"Fine, but I'm not going to like it." He replied childishly.

It was uncomfortable to sleep that night, the heat of the day was still with the night and with no air conditioner it made it much worse. That wasn't the least of their troubles. What would they do when Rune woke the next morning, and how would she take the news? Whatever happened they had to follow the plan to head to Ste. Genevieve.


	22. Chapter 22

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 22

**This chapter is mostly in response to some of the reviews I've been getting recently. Please do remember that I cannot reply to your reviews if they are on a guest account. This takes time out of my storytelling in having to explain in character. If you want me to reply to your questions please make an account or send me an actual email not through the site so I can answer your questions out of story. (Please and thank you.)**

Rune woke up from her sedation with hazy vision and a scrambled mind. She looked to her left and saw through the broken window that dawn was just arriving. She also spotted the blurry silhouette of one of the four. Once her mind cleared a bit more and her senses returned she could hear muttering.

Most of her body was half numb so she couldn't move all the best. Her mouth and throat were very dry; the heat did little to help her disposition. The more she laid awake the easier she could understand the muttering, she recognized Richtofen's voice, but due to her current status she couldn't say anything. She just listened to the rather disturbing conversation he had with himself, or the voices, whichever one he was talking to.

"Nein, I already told you I vill not end up like him." He argued and then waited for a moment.

"You don't understand it's ze only vay to find ze teleporter und continue vith ze plan."

"Stop it. Maxis vas veak to his affections, I can control myself."

He went on for a little longer and then paused for a good while.

"She's avake, are you sure?" he asked. He waited and then turned to look behind him. Rune just stared back at him, unable to speak her mind.

"So you are."

He got up and knelt down next to the couch.

"Feeling vell?" he asked. Rune shook her head to which he raised an eyebrow.

"Then vhat is troubling you? Do you feel sick, are you hungry, thirsty, vhat?" he questioned.

Rune lifted her arm the best she could and made a motion like she was drinking a glass of water.

"Ah, thirsty, I'll be back in just a second." He replied. Richtofen returned with a small glass of water to which Rune took it with her left arm and tried to sit up.

"Here let me help you." He insisted helping to lift her back off the arm of the couch.

As soon as she could she drank the whole glass and exhaled with relief. The water was enough to re-hydrate her throat and mouth to where she could now talk.

"Besser?" he asked.

"Yeah, just a little dizzy is all now." She replied. He looked at her with a nervous glare.

"How much did you hear of zhat?" he questioned quickly.

"Not much I think, just enough to hear about the whole 'Maxis was weak to his affections' part." She answered.

"All right zhen." He replied with a relieved look on his face.

"You weren't referring to me in your conversation were you?" she questioned back.

He stared at her for a moment and lost a bit of his mental balance. He sighed knowing that there was no point in trying to lie to her if she could just piece it together later.

"Somewhat, but not all of it, just zhat certain part not like it mattered anyvay. Ze voices seem to have a very bad comprehension of my mental skills, even though I've shown zhem quite enough times." He answered.

Rune just gave him a funny look which he finally caught at the end of his long reply.

"How do you even get to sleep with them?" she asked humorously.

"I just ignore zhem, usually zhey vill shut up long enough to vhere I can actually sleep." He answered in a casual tone. She chuckled a bit and then stopped to see if she could move any better.

"Do you need help getting on your feet or can you handle it?" he asked.

"I think I've got it." She answered slowly turning to where her feet were on the floor. Richtofen got up just in case she needed any sudden assistance. Rune prepared herself to stand, she counted to three in her head and pushed herself off the couch and used the momentum to stand.

Unfortunately this didn't go as planned and as soon as she got up she fell, luckily Richtofen caught her before she planted her side into the coffee table. Her legs were still partially numb so there was no use trying to get up until they weren't. He sat her back down on the couch and took a seat next to her.

"No need to rush your recovery. Just take things easy for now, ve have time." He assured.

She nodded to acknowledge his assurance and then took a look around the new building they moved to.

"It's not like ve vent zhat far, ve're just in ze building across ze street from ze store." He explained. Rune noticed that only Takeo was downstairs and he was asleep in the recliner.

"Where are the other two?" she asked.

"Dempsey's upstairs in one of ze rooms' und Nikolai is as vell." Richtofen answered.

"Why'd they do that?"

"Ironically enough, Dempsey couldn't stand Nikolai's snoring und he vent upstairs while Nikolai couldn't stand Takeo's presence so he followed suit a few minutes afterwards." He explained trying not to laugh. Rune giggled which caused Richtofen to laugh along with her.

Once they settled down and everything was quiet they both could hear some of the birds outside. The sun had finally risen from behind the horizon and its light flooded onto the streets. Rune watched as the light spread across the outdoors, but she twitched at something that had touched her.

"Ed, just because my legs are partially numb doesn't mean I can't tell when you're touching me." She warned.

Richtofen retracted his hand with a guilty look on his face.

"You let me have sex vith you, but you von't let me touch you vhen ve're alone together." He mused.

"Takeo's asleep right there!" she quietly yelled and gestured to Takeo.

"Do you think I care? I mean really, Takeo is an Imperial Japanese soldier, he wouldn't even step within a fifty mile radius of a brothel until his superiors gave him ze green light."

"That's not what I mean." She replied.

"Oh, so you're not comfortable vith displaying affection vith other people around." He concluded.

"Yes, that's exactly it." She answered.

"It's a zombie apocalypse, Rune. Besides if ve can't find ze teleporter vhat do you think is going to happen to you?"

She gave him an evil glare, at which point he realized he'd just dug himself into a hole that was going to be very difficult to get out of.

"I don't mean it zhat vay! I mean zhat if all else fails you und I can do zhat, I didn't mean whore yourself to ze other three." He quickly clarified. She didn't respond which made him think that he wasn't out of the red yet so he just continued to try and explain his stance even though she knew after his first explanation.

Rune just laughed on the inside, trying her best to keep a poker face as Richtofen stumbled along in his unnecessary explanations. A quiet chuckle escaped and Richtofen stopped immediately. Rune looked at him and then just continued at a full laughter. He looked at her in disbelief.

"Und I thought I vas sadistic, but zhat….zhat just vasn't fair." He commented.

She halted her laughter long enough to get a sentence out.

"This is why you're my favorite Ed." She chuckled. After her laughter subsided and things got quiet once again she looked back outside. Rune dug into her pocket and fished out her cell phone.

She checked it and saw the time, 06:35. She also realized that her phone battery was almost drained and she would have to charge it, but that could wait.

"I have to ask, how is it zhat you can get by ze age difference between us?" Richtofen questioned. This made her think back, far back in fact.

"My mom and my dad both got married and had me and they had an eleven year age difference. My mom being eighteen and my dad being twenty-nine." She answered.

"Yes, but zhat's an eleven year age difference. Between you und I zhat's a twenty-one year age difference." He stipulated.

"My mom always told me that if I really love someone, it doesn't matter how far apart we are in age, distance, or even race. I don't care how much older you are than me I care about who you are and how you love me back."

She put her head on his shoulder and continued to watch the outdoors come to life with the sun's rays. Richtofen thought about it and shut out his doubts; he believed her reasoning, but would it be enough to stand up to whatever was going to happen next and more importantly was she going to remember what had happened last night. He hoped not, but in the back of his mind he knew that it would only take one small bit of stimuli to return that memory to her. If she did start to remember he didn't have anymore of his special sedative to make her forget.


	23. Chapter 23

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 23

The heavy thudding of footsteps down the stairs stirred Rune and Richtofen. Looking into the other room they both saw Nikolai with a half empty bottle of vodka in his hand and his hair scrambled in all sorts of directions.

"What time is it?" he grumbled. Rune took out her phone and then put it back into her pocket.

"O' seven hundred thirty hours." She replied in military time.

Nikolai tilted his head up a bit in thought then nodded once he figured out what she'd said.

"So is not too late to take another nap." He stated.

"Actually, we have to leave pretty soon if we don't want the hellhounds to catch up with us." Rune informed. Nikolai's face darkened at the news and the realization that he couldn't sleep in a bit more.

"In fact ve should probably be vaking everybody up right about now." Richtofen added. Rune nodded in agreement and made sure to support herself while getting off the couch. She wobbled a bit, but then caught her balance.

"Are you sure you can valk? Do you need to rest a bit more?" Richtofen asked.

"No, I've got it." She answered.

Rune started off slowly to the other room and headed up the stairs carefully.

"I guess zhat means I'm vaking up Takeo." Richtofen mentioned to himself. He got up and stood in front of Takeo, still slumbering quite well in his chair. Richtofen leaned forward a bit and waited at least ten seconds before shouting, "Erwachen Affe Jungen!*"

Takeo was so startled that he nearly tipped the chair completely back. Nikolai burst into heavy laughter and almost tripped over himself trying to maintain his drunken balance. Takeo was not amused in the least, and his eyes were dark orbs of hatred.

"Anata wa kono tame ni kurushimudeshou.**" He muttered grimly.

Richtofen grinned widely at his displeased grimace.

"Get up Takeo, almost time to go." He informed. Takeo, still frowning, nodded in acknowledgement and understanding. Meanwhile, Rune was coming back down the stairs with Dempsey trailing behind her.

When Dempsey got in the room his eyes met with Richtofen's. Dempsey scowled furiously at him to which Richtofen returned the favor.

"All right so we take any supplies we can find here and take them with us." Rune planned heading into the kitchen. Richtofen turned around and acknowledged her idea.

"Ja, zhat vould be best, but ve still need to find a vehicle so ve can travel faster." He entered. Rune came back out with a few cans of perishables and the rest of the alcohol in the fridge. Nikolai looked at the alcohol intensely, and Rune just scoffed.

"Yes Nikolai, I got them out for you, because I know you can't live without it." she mused sarcastically.

She then turned to Richtofen to add to his statement.

"I'm pretty sure we can find one around here, I mean not everyone went to the evacuation cities." She added handing the bottles of alcohol to Nikolai who took them with an unnatural greed. Everyone soon pitched in to take a share of the canned food to carry with them.

Once everyone was packed up and ready to go they headed outside. The bodies of the zombies they had killed last night littered the streets and they were beginning to attract a horde of flies and insects of the like. Rune covered her mouth and nose.

"Ugh, that stench." She retched.

"You'll get used to it soon enough." Dempsey commented. The five looked through the town and searched in driveways, alleyways, back roads, and open garages for a car.

"Hey guys I found a van!" Nikolai shouted. He waved them over to his location.

The other four investigated his find and they all agreed that it looked fine. The real truth was if it would start, if it had gas, and where the keys were. The keys weren't too hard to find since the van was in a garage and there was a coat rack next to the door leading into the house.

"Who wants to drive this time?" Rune asked.

The four men looked about themselves.

"Not Nikolai preferably, and Dempsey drove the car." She added.

"Vhy don't you just drive, you're sixteen, you need ze practice." Richtofen stated. Rune shivered at the thought, she was still sensitive about driving.

"C'mon Rune, it's not that bad. We'll be in the vehicle with you." Dempsey added.

"That's what I'm worried about." She replied grimly.

"If you will not drive then what will we do if the we men cannot because of injuries and such?" Takeo asked. Rune hung her head and thought about it.

After a while she raised her head back up and took in a breath of courage.

"All right, but if we get into an accident…." She started, but was cut off by Richtofen.

"You are not going to do zhat. Stop acting like zhat it's not zhat bad." He iterated.

"Yeah Rune, you've got nothing to be worried about, besides there's no one else on the road so you can go as fast as you want without any worries." Dempsey added.

She stopped for a little while and then pressed the unlock button on the car keys.

"Get in." she muttered. They wasted no time in doing so, packing all the stuff they were carrying into the back and then taking their seats. Richtofen, of course was in the passenger seat, while Takeo and Dempsey left Nikolai in the very back seat alone.

She was very hesitant in starting the van up; she put the key in the ignition and turned it slowly. She jumped a bit when she heard the van come to life and the radio station blare over the speakers. Richtofen instinctively turned it down and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Take it easy Rune, you're fine just do vhat you normally do." He comforted.

She took a deep breath and shifted the van into reverse making sure to look behind her as she pulled out of the driveway. As soon as that hurdle was over she began to loosen up a bit, she shifted into drive and took a nice easy speed out of the town.

"See it's not zhat bad. You're doing great." Richtofen assured. Once she got onto the highway she felt her mind naturally relax.

"Well, onto Ste. Gen we go!" she declared cheerfully, and turned the radio back on. The road was just as empty coming back than it was going by the first time. As she drove she constantly checked everything out of habit. The gas meter was at a safe level and she kept her speed to where she could manage.

She suddenly got the urge to spark conversation, as she always did when she got nervous.

"So, I guess now would be a bad time to tell you guys that I don't even have my license." She admitted. Dempsey and Richtofen stared at her with unsure glances.

"Vait, you don't have it vith you or you just don't have it outright?" Richtofen questioned.

She looked over at him and forced a nervous smile.

"I don't have one at all, I'm driving on a five month expired permit." She clarified.

"So….how many times have you driven exactly?" Dempsey hesitantly asked.

"Oh….at least four times, I think?"

Nikolai slumped in his seat and gripped his vodka tightly.

"Here comes that bad feeling again." He warned. Takeo tried to calm his nerves by looking out the window.

"Vell, you're not doing bad so far, vhy should ve be concerned?" Richtofen half assured. This didn't do much to put their queasiness to rest, but it let them relax a tiny bit.

Rune turned her attention back to the road and began tapping the steering wheel with her fingers. The radio sounded louder than it was due to the uneasy silence of everyone. This wouldn't be the last thing that would set them on a rickety edge. No for that was to come in a very unnerving visage, one that would set them on their heels for the rest of their time in this dimension.

***"Wake up monkey boy!"**

****"You will suffer for that."**


	24. Chapter 24

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 24

The drive back was a bit unnerving once they saw the last town they were in. Undead had swarmed the area in search of them, and the hellhounds darted from place to place trying to catch a scent. Rune sped past the town, hoping that they would not follow them. It seemed to work, the zombies didn't turn their heads or start sprinting towards them.

There was a feeling of relief amongst the five, until they heard a ghastly howl. To the west side of the road a pack of hellhounds had spotted them and they started to charge at the vehicle.

"No, no, no, no! Why does this have to happen when I drive?" Rune complained and stepped on the gas. The dogs chased them, but couldn't keep up for more than a few seconds.

Just when they were getting into the clear they heard the sounds of shrieking and growling. From the woods off the sides of the roads came hundreds of ravenous undead.

"Keep driving, ve'll take care of zhem!" Richtofen commanded, rolling down the window and aiming his pistol at the zombies. The other three followed suit and started to fire at the growing horde.

Those hundreds of zombies became thousands and they continued to increase in numbers. They had no problem keeping up with them unlike the dogs, and soon they began to grab at the vehicle.

"Sam, if I find you I will fucking kill you!" Rune shouted, trying to concentrate on not swerving off the road. It wasn't too long until smoke started to seep from under the hood.

The van started slowing down and the zombies started to surround it.

"Rune, what the hell are you doing?!" Dempsey shouted pushing out the arm of a hungry zombie.

"It's overheating I can't do anything about it!" she cried, fear quickly overcoming her rationality. Violent strikes of sudden lightning hit the road in front of them.

Hellhounds burst forth from the dust and debris charging straight for the van. One of them jumped onto the hood and head butted the windshield cracking it, but not breaking it. Rune freaked out and swerved the van straight into the woods, causing the other four to jerk over to the right side of the van. Rune dodged several trees, but couldn't avoid them all. They smacked straight into a large oak tree.

Dempsey and Nikolai were forced into the back of the front seats, knocking both of them unconscious. Takeo slammed his head on the glass of the side window doing the same. Richtofen went face first into the dashboard also going dark. Rune was saved by the wheel, but the impact greatly impaired her senses.

She looked around the dizzy world, seeing only blurs of undead and hearing muffled screams.

"Why….me….?" she managed before going unconscious as well.

A deep cold stirred Rune from the darkness; she saw nothing, but blurred light. She closed her eyes at the sudden brightness and tried to gather her thoughts. Rune could hear the faint sound of a soft voice in the distance. It was muffled, but she could make out a few words.

"Wake up…..time….need to…"

She listened closer and could make out more of the voice.

"Are you okay…? Hey…..get up…Miss….please…" it called, becoming more and more clear. It sounded like a boy's voice, but it didn't sound familiar to her. Another voice intervened, one that she did recognize.

"Rune, c'mon, don't go back…get up…" Dempsey's voice begged.

She opened her eyes again, they stung from the light, but she knew that she had to get up. Her eyes quickly adjusted this time and the blurred vision cleared. She saw Dempsey, Takeo, and a boy around her age that she didn't know.

"There she is, glad to have you with us again." Dempsey thanked.

Her first instinct was to get up, but when she did she immediately became dizzy.

"Hey there, don't be gettin' up so fast." urged the boy with a distinct southern accent. Rune fell back into a cushioned surface which she guessed was a couch. After a while her senses came back to their full use, and she looked around the house they were in.

It was definitely old-fashioned, the walls were lacquered wood and the furniture looked like it was from an old ladies' yard sale. She felt her voice come back and she tried to slowly get up again.

"Take it easy there, miss." warned the young man again. This time she didn't fall back down, but she was still a tad bit dizzy.

"You feeling okay, Rune?" Dempsey asked. She nodded and looked around the living room.

"Where's Nikolai and Richtofen?" she questioned.

"They're in the other room. Nikolai's up, but he's still resting, and Richtofen….he's still out." Dempsey answered.

Rune rubbed her head and noticed that she had bandages wrapped around her forehead.

"You were bleeding pretty badly there. Papa and I fixed ya up as best we could." the young man informed. She looked over at him and saw all the details this time.

He had ragged, sandy brown hair and eyebrows, paired with dark brown eyes. His skin was a healthy farmer tan and freckles dotted his cheeks and across his sculpted nose. He was pretty well built, with the biceps to increase on that fact. He wore slightly torn denim pants, and a dark plaid shirt.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"M'name's Dan, miss. Yours must be Rune right?" he replied. She nodded and then looked into the other room where she saw Nikolai with his head back on one of the chairs and Richtofen still unconscious on another couch.

"How long was I out?" she asked as well.

"Apparently we've been out for two days." Dempsey answered as he got up from his chair and entered the other room. Rune thought in her head and figured the date.

"It's the 6th of June, miss." Dan stated. She looked back into the other room, and saw Dempsey getting Nikolai up who then proceeded to mess around in his pack for his alcohol.

Rune slid around and put her feet to the ground getting ready to get up.

"Take it easy miss, wouldn't want you to get hurt anymore than ya already are." Dan warned sincerely. She got up slowly and carefully; she was only a little bit dizzy standing up. She stood for a moment and then attempted to walk into the other room to check on Richtofen.

She managed, and once she got into the other room she kneeled next to him. He had bandages around his forehead as well, but his were covered in blood and his overcoat was spotted with blood also.

"Edward? Can you hear me?" she asked hopefully. He didn't stir the slightest bit.

"Ed, wake up soon, okay?" she ended and then got back up.

"I think he got the worst of it." Nikolai grumbled in between gulps of vodka. Rune looked at him and then back to Richtofen.

"Don't worry Rune; he'll get up sooner or later. He's a pain in the ass like that." Dempsey assured comically.

She nodded and then left the room and sat back on the living room couch.

"Yer friends are really odd." Dan commented.

"Why do you say that?" she asked.

"Well for one they're wearin' old World War II outfits, and when I ask them about other wars like Afghanistan and Iraq, they don't have a clue what I'm talking about." He replied.

Rune looked at him, she wanted to explain that they were really from World War II, but she gauged how he would react. He'd probably think that she was crazy and that the other four were as well. She decided to keep her mouth shut and wait to see what would happen without the explanation. In another room, she heard the sound of a door shutting.

"Well, Papa's home." Dan stated.


	25. Chapter 25

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 25

**Sorry for such a late update, I've been busy with Minecraft and preparing for my trip to D.C.! Yep, I'll be in the Memorial Day Parade, I'm so excited! My school's marching band was selected to go again this year, I hope you'll all consider watching, but you won't be able to pinpoint me, we'll all be wearing matching uniforms, lol. Anyway, I'll be sure to update after the trip. (I won't be leaving until the 24th so be sure to get your input in before then)**

A rugged man came into the living room, dirt covered his face and he had a scraggly beard. His hair looked like it'd been unkempt for days and so did his clothes. Muddy overalls, rough work boots, and a white t-shirt with the Confederate flag on it they just screamed that he was a southerner. He had deep set eyes that looked black at first glance, but in decent light they were very dark brown.

"'Bout time ya'll woke up. I was gettin' to worry you'd never see the light o' day again." He commented in his scruffy voice.

"Papa, that other fellow ain't up yet." Dan contradicted.

"Which one?" Dan's father asked. His son pointed to Richtofen who was still passed out on the other couch.

"Ah, I ain't too worried 'bout that one. Dressing up like a damn Hitler-loving kraut, it's best that he never get up." Dan's father grumbled. He looked back at Rune sitting on the couch.

"Well, miss. Have a nice nap did ya? Name's Jeremiah Rudders, nice ta meet ya." He greeted.

Rune looked at him and then back to Richtofen.

"I'm Rune Albana." She replied half-heartedly.

"He yer friend or somethin'?" Jeremiah asked.

"Yes, he's a friend of sorts. Those men are all friends you could say." She answered.

He grumbled and then went on with the conversation.

"Well, yer lucky me and my son were out there in the woods where ya'll crashed. If we hadn't been, well…..it wouldn't have been a pretty sight let's just say that." Jeremiah explained.

"Thank you." Rune replied, still worried for Richtofen.

"Miss, you all right?" he asked concerned.

"Yes, I'm fine, but….." she trailed off. Jeremiah went into the other room and stared at Richtofen. He nudged him a bit, then again even harder, and even more times, but he didn't wake up. He looked back into the living room and shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't know what ta tell ya miss. He's out cold, just gonna have to wait it out." He explained. Rune hung her head and then looked out the window. It seemed about sunset, and she instinctively fiddled around in her pocket. She nearly had a heart attack when she couldn't find her phone.

"Oh, sorry, I have yer phone miss. Just keepin' it safe for ya." Dan clarified and held out her phone for her to take back. She reclaimed her possession and checked the battery life, and there was none. It was just a black screen so she checked in her jacket pockets and luckily she found the charger.

"Do you have an outlet I can put this in?" she asked.

"Sure do, behind the table to yer right." Jeremiah answered. She looked back there and sure enough the outlet was there.

"Thank you." She replied.

"Sure thing." He welcomed.

Three hours passed and the sun was well underneath the horizon now. Jeremiah had made a makeshift meal with the foodstuffs he had at hand, which wasn't much. He'd explained that when they absolutely needed to they would have to kill the remaining livestock on their farm. Rune wasn't surprised that they lived on a farm; they were southern folk after all.

A sudden rustling got everyone's attention; from inside the secondary living room they heard very familiar German curses. Rune was the first to head into the room; sure enough Richtofen had woken up and discovered that he was sore as could be. Out of curiosity he reached up to feel his forehead then cringed with the slightest touch.

"Ed!" Rune said with delight.

He looked at her surprised to see that she'd gotten up before him for the first time.

"Vhat….vhat happened? Mein head is so dizzy….I thought ve'd died in zhat accident?" he managed.

"We would have, but these two men saved us and took us in." she explained.

"Vhat two men?" he asked.

No sooner had he asked about them did they walk into the room.

"So the sleeper wakes, 'bout time, I'd almost given up on any hope of ya wakin' up." Jeremiah grumbled. Richtofen looked at the ragged man in the overalls and almost would have scoffed if he weren't so dizzy and out of mind.

"Before ya get up and eat I request that ya take off that outfit ya got on. I don't go to well with people that dress like them baby-killing Nazis." He added.

After that he left the room went back through the kitchen and into the dining room. Dan still stood there and watched both Rune and Richtofen.

"I'd do as he asks, sir. My Pa's Pa fought in World War II, and he was European Theatre. He told us lots of nasty stories 'bout Nazis, that's why he don't tolerate ya." Dan explained.

"Vell, I fought in it too so I vould be able to disprove some of zhose stories." Richtofen replied. Dan raised an eyebrow and sort of laughed.

"Are ya all right in the head, sir, I mean you'd have to be older than dirt to have fought in it." Dan clarified.

"I'm only thirty-seven, I'm not zhat old, besides I vas zhere vhen Hitler vas elected to Chancellor of Germany."

Before either of them could go on Rune whispered something to Richtofen.

"Vhat? Vhy didn't you tell zhem?" he bursted.

"I didn't know how they'd react, they wouldn't be that willing to believe something like that." She replied. Richtofen shook his head slightly and then looked to address Dan.

"Vell, vhether you believe me or not, ve are from Vorld Var II, but not exactly from zhis timeline or dimension." Richtofen began, but the look on the young man's face didn't very much reassure him that he understood. Rune at that point took immediate action.

"Have you ever heard about Call of Duty?" she asked Dan. He snapped out of his stupefied state.

"Yeah, I've played Modern Warfare and a little Black Ops." He answered.

"Did you ever play the zombies mode on Black Ops?" she questioned.

"I did a few times…wait….." he paused and thought up in his head. Rune waited for the inevitable and braced herself for what was to come next.

"Yer that crazy German guy aren't you?" he exclaimed. Richtofen nodded not quite sure what he would do next.

"And those three other guys, the Russian, the Marine, and the Japanese guy….." he added.

"Yep, that's them. They're the guys from the game." Rune assured.

Dan had a smile on his face, and then laughed a bit.

"Whoa, I gotta go talk to the Marine. He's been my favorite since I started playin'. This is…..it's just…wow!" he exclaimed again and went into the dining room. Richtofen let out a sigh of relief and carefully ran his hand through his hair.

"Now ve have to see how his father is going to take it."

Rune nodded in agreement, but then heard to rustle of conversation in the dining room.

"C'mon Ed, you need to eat something, can't have you going hungry when we've still got a teleporter to find." Rune announced. Richtofen unbuttoned his over shirt and slid off his armband. Afterwards he got up slowly and quickly adjusted to standing again.

"I wish I could recover that fast." Rune mumbled to herself.

"I gave myself ample time to rest and readjust, unlike you." He explained.

"I guess I am a bit impatient at times." She admitted.

"A bit….? Vell…..I von't say anything." He hesitated.

When they got into the dining room, Dan and Tank were already having a full blown conversation. Jeremiah just ate quietly, probably thinking that his son had gone loony.

"Yeah, I remember when I was stuck in a Japanese tunnel system with only my 1911 and a rusty butter knife. I was scouting around the corners and next thing I knew I was jumped by a Jap with a sword." Dempsey told.

"Oh man, did ya get him off ya?" Dan asked excitedly.

"Of course I did, threw him off me into the wall of the tunnel and slit his throat. Yep, ain't no man alive that can take the Tank out, heheh." He concluded.

"May I also add, Dempsey, zhat you're ze vone who gets downed ze most vhen ve are fighting zombies." Richtofen entered.

Dempsey didn't take to well with that remark and thus began another verbal fight between the two.

"I get downed so often because I ain't a pussy to get up close and fight those worm infested bastards." Dempsey retorted.

"Are you sure it's not because of your lack of brain cells Dempsey, because I believe that's vhat ze real reason is." Richtofen insulted.

"Well, excuse me. I'm not the one who keeps getting us lost in this whole time travel bit."

Rune hung and shook her head, both embarrassed and uncomfortable. She perked her head back up and looked over to Jeremiah.

"Did Dan explain to you….." Rune said, but was cut off with Jeremiah's sudden answer.

"Yep."

She continued to skulk over the embarrassment.

"Good." She mumbled.


	26. Chapter 26

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 26

After the small dinner and verbal abuse between Dempsey and Richtofen the rest of the night went on like any normal one, besides the constant fear of zombies breaking through the windows at any time. They'd all gathered in the living room and Dan was the conversation starter most of the time, asking about their war experiences and what it was like on the frontlines. Dempsey was more than happy to tell his tales, but the other three were not as open. There were times when Dan would cross the line in his questioning, but they did not go into a fit of rage, they just stayed quiet for a bit and changed the subject.

With all the questions and answers even Rune was surprised at some of the stories and replies she heard. To know that Nikolai was once a baron in the middle, northeast part of Russia was a surprise to everyone in the room. Takeo had killed his first man when he was only twelve due to the man being a mugger and ambushing him in the streets of Nakamura. Dempsey had a seven year daughter that he left to join the marines and he'd sent her to his aunt and uncle.

Dan rarely asked questions that directed to Richtofen, mainly because he was a Nazi. But the questions he did ask were a bit out of line, and forced him to respond very carefully in order to not offend greatly. He didn't say much in the way of personal history, but he did mention some 'off' things about his family. The fact that they were related to several of the German princes back when Germany was just a mass of separated territories.

When Dan ran out of questions to ask all of them subconsciously decided it was time to head to bed. Without further ado they all split up and found places to sleep. Nikolai was asked to sleep somewhere off the furniture so he wouldn't rub off his stench on them. Takeo took to the chair in the second living space, and Dempsey took the couch in the same room. Of course Dan and Jeremiah took their upstairs rooms and left the guest bedroom just for Rune only.

Richtofen found out the hard way about Jeremiah's "no boys allowed with the girls" rule. Especially when the punishment was a swift kick in rear coupled with a nice chilling bowl of water and a strict verbal warning. At least this let Rune think to herself without any distractions or worries. Most of her thoughts went along with getting a way to travel to Ste. Genevieve and the best route from their current location. However, they were in the wrong condition to be heading off in such a rush, it would be better to rest up on Jeremiah's farm and then head off with much needed supplies than to go it at the moment.

The next morning was a prelude into something that none of the five expected to handle.

"C'mon if ya'll are stayin' here ya'll are gonna work to pay yer' keep." Jeremiah ordered as they all made their way to the run-down barn behind the house.

"Farm verk, never in my life have I ever dealt vith livestock, und now it chooses to vex me, hier in America of all ze places in ze vorld." Richtofen complained.

"Quit your whining Richtofen, or you might just get left with the worst jobs." Dempsey warned.

Inside of the barn there were only a few animals due to the zombies taking the rest. Two dairy cows, a pregnant goat, two hens and one rooster.

"Well at least there aren't a lot of them, I was expecting more." Rune admitted.

"I did have five cows, four goats and twelve chickens before ya'll came here, but as you can guess those zombies got the bulk of them." Jeremiah explained.

He sat down two buckets and climbed up a rickety ladder to the upper level of the barn. From there he tossed a few plastic egg containers, two pitchforks, and one shovel.

"All right, now I don't care which one of ya'll does what but I need someone to gather the eggs, another to milk the cows, one to replace the hay, and the last to move the crap outta the barn." He ordered from the upper level.

"And you will be…..?" Rune questioned.

"Yer supervisor, now get to it."

Takeo took off for the pitchforks and grabbed one before any of the others could take them. The other pitchfork was taken by Dan so he wouldn't get stuck with any of the truly laborious jobs. Dempsey ran for the buckets, but was outmatched by Rune's sprinting. She tossed one of the buckets at Richtofen and the two strolled over to the cows.

Dempsey and Nikolai both eyed each other dangerously; they both took off for the egg containers. Nikolai tripped and fell in the hay while Dempsey gathered the containers and started for the makeshift chicken coop.

"Well, it seems that the Russian will be able to take care of something that matches his stench." Takeo chuckled.

"Laugh while you can Takeo, just know that one day it will be you cleaning up the pile of shit you bury yourself in." Nikolai warned.

"Enough lollygaggin' ya'll are burnin' daylight." Jeremiah urged.

Nikolai grudgingly picked up the rusted shovel and began his search for the unwanted remains in the barn. Dempsey hopped into the chicken coop as quickly as possible and started for the eggs. His plans were thwarted, however, by the aggressive rooster that also made the coop its home. Before he was spurred Dempsey leapt out of the coop without any eggs and watched the rooster peck at the fence.

"Careful now, that rooster ain't too friendly. If ya don't keep an eye out he'll get ya." Jeremiah warned.

Dempsey got back to his feet and watched the rooster carefully in order to time his attempt right. As soon as the rooster was on the other end of the coop he jumped in again and took off with two eggs before he heard the furious flap of wings and returned outside of the coop. While Dempsey was occupied with that Takeo and Dan were off to the side cycling the hay. They deconstructed the fresh bales and moved the old hay out near the garden.

Rune and Richtofen were having problems of their own with the two diary cows. Milking the cows was not as easy as they thought, especially since they couldn't even yield the tiniest sprinkle of milk.

"Hey Jeremiah, could you come down here and help us with the cows?" Rune asked. The rugged man obliged by climbing down the ladder and going to her side.

"All right ya got the hold right, but yer not squeezing hard enough. Ya gotta do it like this." He instructed. After a few minutes of quick tutoring Rune got the hang of it, so Jeremiah went back up the ladder and continued supervising.

"He helps you, but not me. I see how it is." Richtofen mumbled to himself. Rune sighed and stopped milking the cow to take care of him.

Nikolai shoveled up large and small piles of animal feces and dropped them off in an old metal barrel labeled "Fertilizer". There were moments when he would stop what he was doing and take drinks of his vodka, then return to his task. He would mumble Russian curses whenever he found a particularly littered area and begin to shovel aggressively. As terrible as it may have seemed it was actually one of the easier jobs.

Dempsey on the other hand had more problems with the rooster. After getting spurred three times, getting caught on the fence, and only coming up with six eggs he was beginning to get a bit angry. In his anger he began to formulate a plan to stop the rooster's assault and save himself precious time. He put down the egg container and stalked around to the other side of the coop where the rooster was hanging out at.

Dempsey looked around for something he could put around it to trap it. He found his salvation in the far corner of the barn. A faded red plastic ring with a thin sheet of old chicken wire that rose up about three feet was exactly what he needed. He took it and began to aim it above the rooster in order to trap him where he wanted him. As soon as the rooster was in the farthest corner away from the eggs he let it fall and encircle the enraged animal.

Dempsey leaped over the fence and grabbed the last three eggs and ran out of the coop before the rooster made its way over the trap. He laughed in triumph and closed the egg container.

"How do ya like that you damn dirty cock?" Dempsey insulted the rooster. Jeremiah got down from the ladder and took the container from him and inspected each egg. He was satisfied that he'd not broken any of them and patted him on the shoulder.

Takeo and Dan were finished with cycling the hay and were now putting up the pitchforks. Nikolai was still hunched over looking for any more animal crap and he still cursed when he found some. Rune had gotten done with milking her cow while Richtofen was still occupied with the one he was milking.

"Zhis is vhy I never vent to farms." He mumbled under his breath.

"C'mon Ed, you're almost done." Rune reassured him.

Once Nikolai and Richtofen were done they all headed back to the house.

"That's a pretty good day of work. To be honest I thought ya'll would screw it up completely. Glad to see I was wrong." Jeremiah admitted.

"We're happy to not disappoint you then…" Rune hesitantly thanked.

Once inside the house Jeremiah took the milk buckets and put them in the kitchen.

"Ya'll have earned yer stay for now, but just know that this was an easy task compared to what I might have ya do. Depending on how long ya'll plan to stay." He foreshadowed.

"Oh we won't be staying too terribly long, we've got to go to a rendezvous point a ways from here." Rune assured.

Jeremiah nodded and went back into the kitchen to prep the items they'd gotten today.

"Ugh, what do you think he's going to make us do?" Nikolai shuddered.

"Oh be quiet Nikolai, we won't be staying that long." Rune scolded.


	27. Chapter 27

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 27

A string of uneventful nights was a welcome reprieve from the hectic situation that the five had gone through six days ago. The near death experiences weighed on all of them, but none more so than Rune. She, of course, had never gone through such a strain and it was beginning to take a toll on her both mentally and emotionally. This concern, however, was secondary and the search for the teleporter took precedence over such things.

The rural peace of Jeremiah's farm was somewhat soothing for all of them; it allowed them to settle their nerves for a while. They could take things slowly and think at their own pace. This peace would have to come to end sometime; the threat of the zombies finding them on the farm was higher and higher the longer they stayed. The last thing that needed to happen was to jeopardize someone other than themselves.

"Is that all ya need?" Jeremiah asked Rune as she packed the last of the supplies into a duffel bag.

"Yep, that'll be all." She answered. Jeremiah nodded and looked out the window. The day was just beginning, but the earlier they left the better distance they would cover.

"I'd hate to leave you two like this, but….." Rune tried to apologize.

"Nah, don't worry 'bout it. We'll be fine trust me. We took care before ya'll showed up and we'll take care after." Jeremiah assured.

Rune smiled and slung the duffel bag on her shoulder. The other four were ready to go with their packs of supplies and renewed travel vigor. The days would be hot now that summer was just around the corner and they were prepared for it. They all dressed lightly for the day, but they packed other clothing for inclement weather and the like.

"All right, well, I guess we'll be off." Rune started.

"Kay now, ya'll keep as safe as ya can. Make sure to get plenty of rest and food." Jeremiah iterated.

"We will, and thank you so very much for your kindness." She thanked.

"Don't mention it." He ended nodding his head in finality.

Dan opened the door for them and waited until they all passed through before waving them goodbye. They all waved back with vary degrees of enthusiasm and when Dan shut the door the continuation of their journey began. The sun had just started to peak over the horizon and the trees of the woods beyond the farm fields.

"And so ve begin again." Richtofen spoke eyeing the horizon carefully.

They had detailed their route for getting back to the road and then heading for Ste. Genevieve. If they could not find a working vehicle they would walk there, but if they did it was all the better. Their attitudes to traveling the world were now cautious and they were on the alert for anything that might hint at zombie territory. Should they find any zombies it was best to avoid them completely and draw no attention to themselves.

When they reached the highway again they immediately took to the tree lines for travel. It was better to stay hidden from any threat whether they were there or not. The cars that they saw on the highway were either battered or hit by car part thieves, but that did not concern them. After their incident last time they weren't too eager to drive a vehicle again.

"So how long do you think it'll be before we meet some marrow-jockeys again?" Dempsey asked.

"Hopefully never, but probably sometime along the way, they are everywhere after all." Rune answered.

"Don't get any ideas Tank, we all agreed not to engage them unless it is absolutely necessary." Takeo reminded.

"I know that." Dempsey remarked.

"Hey guys, I'd hate to ask, but what happens when we run out of food?" Nikolai questioned. The other four thought about it for a moment.

"Vell first ve'll have to find a vay to hunt vithout drawing attention to ourselves und making loud noises. Thus ve von't be able to hunt vith firearms." Richtofen deduced.

"So what, we just hunt with our bare hands?" Dempsey replied.

Rune perked her head up and began to open up her duffel bag. The four men watched her dig through clothes and foodstuffs until she found the bottom.

"Aha! Here we are, never know when you're going to have to rely on old fashioned hunting." She remarked and pulled out a detachable bow. Along with that she grabbed out one of the seven arrows she'd packed with the bow.

"When did you pack that?" Dempsey asked.

"This isn't mine it's Dan's. He let me have it just in case we would ever run out of ammo for the guns." She answered.

"But that thing isn't even a longbow, how are we supposed to get bigger animals like deer?" Nikolai complained.

"Simple, we don't until we find or make a longbow." Rune replied.

"Zhat solves our hunting problem, but leaves us vith the decision of who does ze hunting." Richtofen pointed out.

"I can't shoot a bow I can barely aim down a shotgun." Nikolai opted out.

"I don't hunt with bows, never could get the hang of 'em." Dempsey commented.

"Oh knock it off, I'll do it." Rune volunteered. The others didn't say anything about it either out of bewilderment or just plain outrage.

"You're gonna hunt…..with a bow…..for us?" Dempsey managed.

"What, that's not a problem is it?" she asked venomously.

"It's just that…well…you don't look like the hunting type." Nikolai finished.

"I've bow hunted plenty of times. Just because I don't look the part doesn't mean I'm not capable of it." Rune replied.

She put the bow and the arrow back into the bag then sighed.

"Let's just get going. I don't want to waste time and risk getting ambushed by zombies." She urged. They had no quarrels with that plan and they started off again.

While they traveled along the tree line they would look out onto the highway and see the occasional bullet torn body or feasting undead. They took their new tactic to heart and carefully passed by the threats. Even if they were under tree cover and pretty much hidden from passersby on the highway it never hurt to be cautious. They couldn't take the chance that the next living humans they met were less than friendly or infected.

Occasionally Rune would slow down her pace or otherwise stop completely for odd reasons. Every time she did though, she looked as though she was trying to think of something that she couldn't quite grasp or remember. A sudden jolt of a voice or quick shake from the others quickly brought her back to reality.

"Do you need to take a break?" Takeo would ask politely. She replied with a shake of her head and continued walking.

A good full day of traveling brought them to the outskirts of another town that they'd not gone through. Instead of backtracking completely to Rune's hometown they decided to take a more conventional and time-saving route. After a quick survey of the surrounding woods and a debate on where they would rest it was decided that they would stay the night in the woods. Each person would take three hour shifts to watch for zombies or other humans that might wander too close and force them to defend themselves.

Being so close to the highway and a suspected populated area meant no fire to sleep by.

"So who's starting off?" Dempsey questioned.

"I will take first shift." Takeo quickly answered.

"Well that saves us some trouble. I guess I'll take second." Rune opted.

"I'll take third shift." Dempsey volunteered.

"Zhen I'm fourth, und Nikolai is last." Richtofen concluded.

Nikolai rolled his eyes and took a swig of the remaining vodka in his bottle. Before they went to sleep they ate whatever didn't need to be heated and shared some conversations about their times in the wilderness. Whether it was hunting, survival, or camping Dempsey seemed to be an extraordinaire at it all which caused him to get on even Takeo's nerves. He was finally put in place with Rune's life or death tale of when she went alone in the forests around her dad's parent's house and encountered a rabid coyote. Only after she'd ran about a mile back home did she reach the safety of her grandparent's dogs near the creek that ran through the woods nearest to the house.

"So how old were you when that happened?" Takeo asked.

"I was only nine and still, to this day, I never wander those woods alone even with a weapon." She answered.

"Let's just hope zhere aren't any hostile animals around hier for tonight, ja." Richtofen commented to which they all nodded their heads in agreement. Soon after telling her story Rune went back into her pondering state still trying to remember what it was that she was trying to recall.

As soon as a finalizing silence fell over all of them it was time to start shifts and get some sleep. Takeo stood vigilantly, looking over the surroundings and keeping alert to all foreign sounds. They all slept rather well, waking when their shift came up and rotating accordingly. Rune, however, spent most of her watch in her state of thought. _Why can't I remember what I'm thinking of? What is it that I'm trying to remember anyway?_

The question would vex her for long while until she could finally recall just the memory she was trying to recollect.


	28. Chapter 28

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 28

Daylight broke over the opposing tree line on the other side of the highway and that cued Nikolai to wake the others.

"C'mon guys, is daytime. Get your asses up before I breathe on you all." He rudely threatened. The threat was more than enough to get them up and out of their sleepiness.

"Shizer, vhat time is it?" Richtofen yawned. Rune shook her head and pulled out her phone.

"O' six hundred and ten hours." She answered.

"Vhat's ze date?"

"June 10th."

Richtofen raised his eyebrows in a surprised manner.

"Vell, summer is fast approaching und I don't know about you, but I do not vant to be in America for ze summer." he admitted, stretching his arms.

"Why not, you don't really think it's that bad do you?" Rune asked.

"Yeah Richtofen, not afraid of a little heat are ya?" Dempsey added.

"I'm not concerned about ze heat Dempsey I'm concerned about ze conditions zhat summer brings about."

Dempsey gave him a blank stare to which Richtofen scoffed and had to proceed with further explanation.

"Summer is a hot bed for any activities, be zhem animal, insect, zombie, or human. Vith ze increased activity it vill be harder to stay on ze down low, und it vill be harder to escape notice from any predators, natural or human."

"So you're saying that the likelihood of running into raiders, gangs, or unfriendly anyone is higher." Rune simplified.

Richtofen nodded and Rune gestured to Dempsey who then slightly nodded his head in understanding.

"In that case we need to get to the teleporter as quickly as possible." Takeo concluded.

"Exactly, und since ve haven't even seen a glimmer of ze beam zhat might not be for a very long vhile." Richtofen replied.

"All right then, so let's just hope the odds are in our favor, shall we?" Rune hoped and slung her duffel bag on her shoulder.

The town they had spent the night near seemed a bit less intimidating now that they could see it in full daylight. From their vantage point it didn't seem inhabited by anything, but as they got closer and time passed the town slowly came to life. The first sign of habitation was not a good one. Three men came out of the police building and by the looks of them they were not the friendly types.

All of them wore blue do-rags on their heads and they dressed like distraught juvenile delinquents, which they more than likely were judging by the way they carried themselves. The five quickly decided that it was best to skip this town and keep going until the next town. They retreated back into the woods and started their way around the town, making sure to keep an eye out just in case there were any patrols. To their luck there weren't any groups surveying the tree line, but their luck soon turned on them when they heard a few gunshots that seemed to be aimed in their general area.

"Get down!" Dempsey quietly yelled. They didn't argue and plopped to the ground. Hopefully those hooligans were just taking pot shots at the trees and hadn't really seen them. A few fits of laughter echoed into the woods and a few more shots went off this time they were closer. The air grew very tense with every moment they waited.

Soon they could hear footsteps and comprehend the conversations. The men got closer and closer to where they were hiding and every second seemed like an agonizing eternity.

"Are you sure you saw something man?" one of them asked, his voice cracked in several places.

"Man I swear I saw somethin' runnin' round here." the other one answered, he was more than likely African American.

The five heard them stomp through the vegetation and snap twigs as they walked.

"Hey guys look!" a third one called, his voice wasn't even close to a teen's.

"What?" the African American one asked.

"There's downed grass here, something's been through here."

"Or someone?" the cracking voice suggested.

Rune's heart raced and she prayed that they wouldn't be found. The footsteps became closer and the voices were louder. It would only take one good look in the right direction and it was game over.

"Hey, hey James, what's that?" the cracking voice asked.

"Heheh, looks like people to me." The young one named James chuckled.

The five were compromised, and it was a matter of it they could take them or not.

"How many of 'em?" the African American questioned.

"There's five and they just lyin' here. Get your asses up!" James ordered.

They got up slowly, taking their time to analyze their opposition. Two of them had pistols, small caliber, the young one and the African American.

"So what brings you all out here in our territory, huh?" the cracking voiced teen asked. None of them answered, they still had guns of their own, but of course they had the disadvantage of not having them drawn.

"He asked you a question motherfuckers, answer him." The African American threatened pointing his pistol at the five.

"We're passing through." Dempsey answered grimly.

"Passin' through, huh? Well we don't like people who just pass through without payin' toll." Cracked voice warned.

"Then what do you want?" Dempsey asked.

The three delinquents chuckled and looked at each other.

"Oh no, you all already violated our toll policy. We're takin' you to the boss." Cracked voice answered.

"Hand us your weapons and bags. No, scratch that we'll take 'em off your hands ourselves." James offered.

The three took their bags and guns and set them on the ground away from the five.

"Derrick, go get some others to carry this stuff back, we'll take them to the boss." James ordered. The cracked voiced teen ran off to the town while the other two forced the five in the same direction.

"Hey boss we got some visitors!" the African American teen introduced as they walked into the warehouse. Thousands of boxes had been moved aside to make room for several furnishings and other pieces of loot including televisions, speaker systems, jewelry, and the whole nine yards. Near the back of the wall of boxes there was a two seat couch surrounded with the most expensive of things of the loot. On the couch there was an older teen, probably eighteen or nineteen with a scar running down his left cheek and a bloodstained do-rag around his neck.

The lighting of the warehouse was poor and it wasn't until they got closer that they could distinguish more details on the young adult. He had a shaved head and dressed like an army punk crossed with a British anarchist. He also had his right arm showing and it was tattooed with several insignias, including a swastika. He wasn't exactly a big guy, but he was built like one.

"Where'd you find them?" the boss asked with a scratchy voice.

"Out in the woods, they claim they were just passing through." James clarified.

"Out in the woods, huh?" the boss mused giving them all a sinister look, but glancing a second time at Rune. The boss got up from the couch and strutted to the five.

"So…just passing through is that it? Ha, well if you had read the signs we put around the area you'd have known that all travelers must pay a toll to us." The boss stipulated.

"We were traveling through the woods even before we got here so we didn't see any of those signs." Rune explained rather defiantly. The boss made his way to Rune and sneered at her.

"Well sweet cheeks, I'm afraid you don't get a second warning if you didn't see them the first time." He replied.

Rune didn't make eye contact with the delinquent and that raised his ire. He quickly smacked her and sent her to the ground.

"You fucking look at me when I'm talking to you bitch!" he shouted. That move made the four men lunge forward, but they were halted by the click of more than two guns.

Several other teens stepped into their line of sight aiming pistols at them.

"Well let's not forget these guys right. Let's see here, we've got an Asian, a blondie, a commie, and an old school Nazi." The boss examined. The four men said nothing, but their faces showed every form of damning look imaginable.

The boss walked by them in a cocky manner and gave each one a sneer.

"So which one of you is responsible for the little bitch?" he asked. None of them replied so he strolled back over to Rune.

"So none of you are, not a single one of you is related in anyway?" he asked more specifically.

He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her up to her feet. Rune squeaked only a little bit, but rage was quickly building in her body.

"Then she's free game. Which one of you guys wants her after I'm done?" the boss asked his entourage. They all chuckled and that was the line for Richtofen.

"I'm her boyfriend you little schweinhund, und if you so much as make a glance at her in ze vrong vay I vill make you know suffering beyond your darkest nightmares!" he threatened. The boss only laughed at him and tugged on her hair.

"You're her boyfriend Nazi man? Hahah! Well then, I've got me a more desperate girl than I thought. How many men have you whored yourself out to, huh? Five, ten?" the boss questioned.

"Just him." She answered gutturally. The boss nodded his head multiple times.

"Well sweet cheeks, after we're done with you it won't just be him. It'll be all twelve of us, right guys?!" he called out to his entourage. They cheered, hooted and whistled and some made dirty comments.

"You're going to have one hell of a night sweet cheeks."


	29. Chapter 29

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 29

The four men were escorted into the police building and all thrown into one cell. The boss followed them there and still held Rune by her hair.

"I hope you all have a nice night, because I know that we are." The boss promised them darkly. He threw Rune up to the cell and crossed his arms.

"I'll give you ten minutes to say your goodbyes, and then I'm coming back to take you in for your night of fun."

The boss walked out of the police building with his entourage. Rune collapsed to the ground and immediately broke into tears. Richtofen instinctively reached his arms through the bars and comforted her as best as he could.

"Don't let them take me Eddie! Please!" she cried. Richtofen clenched his teeth and held in his emotions.

"Rune, I vant you to fight zhem as much as you can, I don't care if you have to kill zhem." He urged breaking off his comforting hug and pulling out his carefully hidden knife.

"Do vhatever it takes to keep zhem off of you. Bite, scratch, punch, kick do it all."

Rune took the knife and tucked it into her shoe and covered it with her pants leg. Richtofen took her hand and didn't let go until the boss came back into the building and pulled them apart. At that moment he couldn't hold it in any longer and for the first time the other three men saw the sadistic German, broken and burning with hate and grief beyond belief. It let them, for the first time, realize that he did care for some things other than his cravings for torture or need to see others die slowly.

He was human as well, but he was a grieving and praying one at the moment. His prayers, however, were dark ones and with his tendencies weren't only prayers but guaranteed promises.

"Ich bete, dass, wenn ich eure Gesichter wieder sehen werde ich in jedem eine satanische Symbol schnitzen und wenn ich langsam toten Sie uber den Flammen der Holle selbst werde ich stehen lachen in Ihrem Elend und Leid."*

The twelve delinquent boys all crowded the door of the motel room that the boss had taken Rune into.

"Here's the deal sweet cheeks, when nine o'clock rolls around that's when we're gonna start. Now I want a good clean night, no biting, no kicking, you know what I'm sayin'. If you hurt my boys they got permission to hurt you back, got it, sweet cheeks?" the boss drilled.

Rune just sat on the bed and stared at the ground and like before he smacked her for not looking at him.

"Got it?!" he asked again.

"Yes." She answered darkly.

"Good, now I would take this time to wash up, and get ready because it's gonna be a nonstop business."

The boss left the room and locked the door behind him and carried the key with him. Rune looked at the clock in the room and it mocked her with the time. One in the afternoon, which meant she had eight hours to think of how she would fight. Lucky for her the curtains to the room were heavy and very dark.

She covered the window from the prying eyes of the delinquents and took out the knife Richtofen had given her. She looked in the bathroom for anything that might help her in the fights. The cabinets under the sink were raided clean and though she did find a window it was far too small to climb out of. Seeing that there would be nothing to aid her she spent the rest of her time practicing with the knife.

Eight thirty came about and outside the room the delinquents were getting loud. They tapped on the window and knocked on the door for the rest of the thirty minutes before nine. She knew the boss had arrived when they stopped knocking on the door and she heard the clicking of the lock. The boss came into the room and relocked the door behind him.

"This whole time you just sat there like the dumb broad you are, huh? Well, you did close the curtains." He insulted.

"So I had a little talk with your German boyfriend. He says that you're a fighter, huh? Heh, he's more delusional than I thought at first, looking at you, ha! You couldn't even hurt a fly even if you wanted to."

Rune just sat on the bed quietly, and the boss deemed it time to start. He pushed her back on the bed and pinned her down. She spat in his face and he punched her in the stomach causing her to lose her breath.

"Don't fuck around with me bitch!" he yelled before letting another punch fly into the face.

It was the only thing she needed to catch him off and with his hand not pinning down her arm she quickly grabbed the knife under the blanket. Without any time to react the boss fell quickly to a stab directly into the chest. He bled profusely and almost immediately fell onto her. She pulled the knife out and pushed his nearly limp body off of herself.

The boss fell to the floor and tried to get to his knees, but the wound was so debilitating that he could only lie there and die slowly.

"D…Derrick….! Hor….Horatio!" he tried to yell, but the cries only ended in croaky ends barely audible to Rune. She stood in the room watching the boss slowly bleed out onto the floor and try to call for help. She'd stabbed him right where Richtofen had told her in ultimate self-defense; he was without question going to die.

Rune held the bloody knife close and sat back on the bed and waited for an hour. During that time she listened to the gurgling last words of the boss as he choked on his own blood and died horribly, but fitfully. She took the keys from around his blood drenched body and unlocked the door. The delinquents instinctively backed up, expecting their boss to be exiting, but they saw her instead.

They stood in confusion for a bit, but when they saw the blood on her and the knife in her hand they quickly pieced together that she had killed him. Derrick lunged at her only to get a brutal and instantly fatal slash to the neck. His blood curdled screams terrified the other delinquents, but some still tried to pin her down. A scrawny Latino teen tried to jump on her back, but she noticed him mid-jump and stabbed him in the chest.

Another teen, large and built like a bull charged at her, but she wildly slashed at him and eventually drove the knife deep into his skull. The knife was lodged in his skull for a time, but the sight of the other teens falling to this psychotic knife wielding killer sent those with enough sense running, but some could only watch in horror at the dead bodies that littered the blood stained ground. She pulled herself out from under the big guy's body and retrieved her knife from its place in his split head. She stood in the middle of the remaining crowd and looked at them with her dark eyes and blood spattered face.

She let out a horrendous scream that caused the rest of the teens to sprint in fear. One of the teens who had run originally came back with his pistol and aimed it at her. She turned her head to him and coldly stared at him, his hands shook and even as she slowly walked at him with the knife poised in killing position he couldn't fire it. Just before she stabbed him she pulled the gun out of his hands and whispered a chilling threat.

"If death be a woman than I am death. Fear me."

The four men heard gunshots from outside and immediately became worried. Their worries were soon put to rest when the door to the police building opened and Rune stood in the doorway with a pistol in her right hand and Richtofen's knife in the other. Due to there being no lights on in the building they couldn't see her in detail. She grabbed the cell keys off the desk near the door and unlocked the cell.

The four men quickly fled the building and began to search for their belongings.

"Where do you think they're keeping our stuff?" Dempsey asked.

"Maybe in the warehouse, I saw that one kid take it into a corner there." Nikolai answered. They immediately looked for the warehouse and went inside where they found seven of the remaining delinquents all hiding in there.

"Where's our stuff you little bastards?!" Dempsey yelled.

"It's over there…ju…just take it and go….!" A small teen stuttered, and then returned to shivering in the corner. They took their bags, but soon noticed that Rune hadn't followed them. They went back towards the police building, but on their way there they caught the scent of dead bodies on the night's breeze.

They didn't take the time to investigate and only worried on seeing what had happened to Rune. They got back in the building and this time Takeo turned on the lights. They all turned to see Rune in a corner with the knife still clenched in her hand and the freshly killed body of another delinquent who had tried to take her in a knife fight and had obviously failed horribly. A puddle of fresh blood was still enlarging from the dead teen.

With the light on they could now see Rune in complete and disturbing detail. She sat in the corner with one leg out and the other crooked. In her left hand was Richtofen's completely bloodied knife and in her right was the pistol she'd taken from one of the other delinquents she had killed. Blood almost covered her face completely and it had soaked most of her clothes.

She was completely emotionless and her eyes were wide with the shock of what she had done. Her whole body shook terribly and tears ran freely down her blood spattered cheeks. Richtofen approached her carefully and took the knife and pistol away from her. She didn't respond in the slightest to anything he did, but a few minutes after he'd taken the weapons away from her she collapsed in his arms.

"Mein Gott, vhat have I done…?" he asked himself looking at Rune's unconscious, blood spattered face. It was still rife with anger, grief, and shock. He ran his hand through her hair that had now gone from a dark chocolate brown to a pure snowy white.


	30. Chapter 30

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 30

**Oh my goodness! Sorry guys for such a late, late, late update. You see I have no internet at home and have gone without for almost two months now. At least I took this time to actually finish the story. Well, this part of it anyway. I have an ending to Untoten Kreuzung and am now working on Untoten Kreuzung: Aftermath, Untoten Kreuzung: The Journey Forward, and Eisernes Kreuz. All of them come after the original, but they take place in several alternate timelines. But I shouldn't bore you with specifics and details at the moment, so let me just let you all continue after a long break in the story. So here we are with the long delayed installment of Untoten Kreuzung.**

"Hey Rune, you don't have to push yourself, we can take a break." Dempsey urged.

"I'm fine." She answered with an irritated tone.

"The number of times you're stopping isn't very convincing." Dempsey added.

"I said I'm fine!" She shouted and eyed Dempsey dangerously.

He backed off and let her go on despite the fact that she was obviously fatigued.

"She'll find out soon enough, Tank." Nikolai reassured and gave him a pat on the shoulder. The four men trailed behind her, afraid that going ahead would raise her ire, something none of them wanted to do. The horrible incident two days ago had made her anti-social on an extreme level and she was very irritable.

The only one who was able to get anywhere relatively close to her was Richtofen and even he was treated with disdain. She didn't talk to the others when they stopped anymore; she preferred to sit alone somewhere and skulk. The four knew that her behavior was going to bring nothing, but trouble, without cooperation they would all suffer. They'd learned that during their time in their dimension, even though they all hated each other they had to work together to survive. Rune was no exception to that rule.

Just as Nikolai had said she did find out the hard way that she needed to rest. She collapsed on the forest ground and was too fatigued to lift herself up. As soon as the four got up to her she immediately started to turn them away.

"Get away, I don't need your help." She insisted, trying to push off the ground. Dempsey outstretched his hand, but Rune turned her head.

He put his hand back at his side and found a place to sit down.

"Guess this is an unofficial break then." Nikolai concluded and followed Tank's example. Rune tried harder to push herself up, but failed over and over. She was on the verge of breaking down in rage when she finally decided to give up, but she still denied any help and just lay on the leaf covered ground.

"Hey Rune, what time ya got there?" Dempsey dared to ask. She gave him a snarl, but pulled out her phone anyway, curious herself.

"Seventeen hundred thirteen hours." She answered reluctantly.

"I think now would be the time to set up camp. We won't get much more travel in before night comes around." He suggested.

The other three nodded their heads, but Rune just kept lying on the ground skulking until she felt enough strength to get back up. Takeo shook his head as he passed by her to get his pack.

"What?" she snarled.

"Your actions are going to get us all into danger." He explained. Rune turned her head away again.

Once night fell on the forest the other four started a fire. Rune had finally gotten herself up and found a place in the woods near the camp, but far enough away to feel alone. She listened to the four trading stories with each other and discussing the matters of zombie encounters. Their conversations died down and that was the tell tale sign that it was time to turn in for the day.

"Rune, you gonna be all right over there?" Dempsey asked loud enough so she could hear.

She put her arm out to where he could see it and gave him a thumbs up as an answer. The four put down sleeping bags to lie on and since it was a warm night they didn't need to cover up. Nikolai took first shift tonight and sat up, taking an occasional drink of vodka and humming Russian songs. Rune still sat alone behind a tree, whittling a piece of wood to pass the time.

By the time the wood was nothing more than a sliver Nikolai had finished his shift and Richtofen was on watch. She picked up a rather large twig and started whittling it only to be startled by the snapping of several twigs behind her. Before she could look to see who it was she was met with a stern glare from Richtofen and he was clearly not pleased.

"Ve need to talk. Now." He insisted strictly.

He picked her up by her arm and she didn't dare try to fight him, afraid of the consequences of pissing him off even more. Once they were far enough away from the camp that they couldn't be heard Richtofen let her go.

"What's your fucking deal?!" She shouted.

"Your god damn attitude is my deal! I hoped zhat I vouldn't have to treat you like a child, but you've left me no other alternative!" he answered just as angrily.

She snorted and turned away; bad move. Richtofen took her by her hair and forced her to look at him.

"Let go of me!" She screamed.

"Not until you've learned your lesson!" he replied.

"I don't need a lesson; I need to be left alone!"

She punched and screamed trying to break away from him.

"Let go of me Edward! Let go!" she yelled.

"Not until you've made a breakthrough in zhis behavior of yours." He insisted, keeping his distance from her blows. No matter how much she struggled he would not let go of her.

She tried snapping at his hands and arms, but he pushed her away before she could bite. Her rage went on for almost ten minutes before she broke down in tears and gave up completely. Richtofen let go of her hair and let her fall to the ground. He let a heavy sigh and knelt down in front of her.

She put her arms around her legs and buried her face so no one could see her crying. Richtofen slowly ran his hand through her pale hair and waited. Rune's crying let up a few minutes later and she peeked up from her cover.

"Why won't you leave me alone?" she asked quietly.

He frowned and stopped stroking her hair.

"So everything zhat ve've done so far means nothing to you now?" he questioned back. She didn't answer and hid her face again.

"Don't you see vhat I'm doing for you? I'm trying to support you, to help you get over all of zhis. You don't need to linger on ze past; you're too young for zhat."

"I didn't want to kill anyone. I can kill what' s already been dead or what I need to survive, but killing another living, breathing human being….with a knife of all things…." She spoke, but then stopped. He waited for her to continue and looked back to check on the camp then turned to her again.

"How do you manage to live knowing you've taken the life of another human? Another with dreams, a life of their own….." she asked.

"Honestly, I try not to think about it sometimes, but I vill always know that I killed a man who was just as sentient as I. Zhere are zhose who can deal vith it, und zhere are zhose who can't." he answered. She looked back out at the world and saw his face was grim and contemplative.

"I wouldn't make a very good soldier would I?" she asked.

Richtofen perked up at her question and he held his tongue for a moment.

"Vith some training, psychologically und a bit physically I believe you vould make an excellent soldier." He answered. She smiled frailly and moved her arms to her sides.

"I always wanted to be a soldier. Even though I don't act like it most of the time I've wanted to serve my country." She continued.

"Vell, I believe zhat, und I say zhis vith much consideration, Dempsey could help you vith zhat. I'm only German; I don't know much about American military training or customs." Richtofen admitted.

"You could still teach me right? I could learn from all four of you." She suggested.

Richtofen smiled and chuckled a little which puzzled Rune.

"What? Is there something wrong with that?" she asked starting to get irritated.

"No, I'm not going on about zhat. I'm just happy to see zhat I've found something zhat vill get you on ze right track again." He answered.

"Oh, I guess I do feel a little better." She admitted.

Richtofen got to his feet and offered her a hand. She looked down at the ground for a moment, but then shook her head and looked back up at him. Rune accepted his help in getting up and came back to the camp with him.

"Ed…." She started, which caused him to look back at her, "thank you."

He gave a rare sincere smile and nodded his head slightly in acknowledgement. Before he could even sit back down to continue his watch she grasped him around the waist. He put his arms around her and accepted her hug.

"You know I kind of like your hair zhis color. It feels more suited to you than dark brown." He complimented.

Rune laughed and looked up at him.

"I was going to get it dyed before all this happened; I guess I won't need to now." She admitted. Richtofen shared a short laughter with her and sat down. He was happy to see that she wasn't stubborn anymore for the time being.

Later in his watch she fell asleep next to him and he took the liberty of setting out her sleeping bag and putting her down in it. When he went back to his watch he realized that something was off about tonight. Richtofen soon figured out that his thoughts were not plagued with whispers nor did he hear the hushed conversations between the voices in his head. They were silent tonight, not a single peep from them, he hadn't felt this serenity in several years.


	31. Chapter 31

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 31

The next morning the five got up and prepared for another day's journey to Ste. Genevieve. Once their bags were packed and they ate breakfast they took off. Rune was ahead of the rest of them and continually looked back at them.

"There she goes again getting too far ahead. Pretty soon she's going to be exhausted." Dempsey groaned.

"You know Dempsey I think you're going to be surprised at vhat today brings us." Richtofen replied. Dempsey gave the German an odd stare and just continued walking.

"What's with you guys today? C'mon we've got a lot of distance to cover if we're ever going to make it to Ste. Gen any time soon!" she urged cheerfully.

Dempsey looked back at Richtofen with disbelief.

"Vhat did I tell you?" he reiterated.

"What'd you do to her this time?" he asked, suspicious of how she suddenly became so cheery within a night's time.

"I just encouraged her on a few things und made a few compliments on her hair." Richtofen answered humorously.

"Seriously that's all it takes? Hell if my wives were that easy I would still be married." Nikolai joked. Takeo scoffed and just kept his mouth shut.

"Eh, shut up Takeo, you don't know what it like to be married. The only thing you've ever got close to marrying was that monkey."

Dempsey hushed everyone suddenly and looked around.

"Do you guys hear that?" he asked. The other three listened carefully and they did hear something.

"It sounds like the mystery box song, but that's impossible….unless." Takeo pointed out.

"Rune, get back here quick!" Dempsey called. She looked back and saw that the others had stopped moving. Rune hurried to them and that's when she too heard the jingle.

"That's the mystery box, but how?" she asked.

"Right now I think ze proper question vould be vhere?" Richtofen concluded. Following the sound of the song they were led to the highway. There they saw the fickle mystery box in the middle of an oddly arranged group of cars.

"A trap if I ever saw one." Dempsey warned. The others nodded in agreement.

"Let's just keep moving. I don't want to fight any zombies this far into the journey." Rune urged.

"Right, besides zhere's always a mystery box vhen ve find ze teleporter." Richtofen reminded. With that the five continued through the woods to their destination.

Not more than five minutes later they started to hear troubling noises. Unnatural groans and the occasional shuffling of heavy feet gained their attention very quickly.

"Oh I hope we'll be able to pass by them without getting noticed." Rune prayed. She couldn't have jinxed them any worse than that.

A severely decaying zombie that they had not taken notice of until too late turned in their direction and let loose a horrific screech, Dempsey out of pure instinct pulled out his pistol and shot it through the head ending its racket quickly. It was already too late, groups numbering in the high teens started for the five survivors.

"It's time to run!" Richtofen yelled. They all took off deeper into the woods hoping to outrun and hide from the increasing mob of undead.

"We've gotta do something!" Rune shouted over the roar of zombies. The five looked around for anything that would aid them.

"The trees, we can climb them and gain a vantage point!" Takeo observed.

"Maybe those marrow jockeys can't climb?!" Dempsey thought aloud.

"We're about to find out!" Rune ended using her momentum to climb up a low oak tree with ample speed.

The other four followed suit with Takeo jumping to another low oak, Dempsey climbing up a silver maple, Nikolai to a sycamore, and Richtofen to an oak as well. The zombies scrapped at the bark of each tree trying to claw their way up.

"Hahaha! We got 'em, let's give 'em hell!" Dempsey yelled pulling out his AR15. They all started picking off the undead one by one and the thinner their numbers got the more of them lost interest.

Soon the mob that had come for a meal had dissipated into a few mangled half-able corpses.

"Hey Rune you want the last few?" Dempsey asked from his branch in the silver maple. She gave him a quick two fingered salute and aimed at the remaining six zombies. Six shots and six kills and their immediate zombie threat was gone.

"So…what do we do once we get back on good old terra firma?" Rune asked.

"Easy any zombies still out for us we kill." Nikolai answered bluntly.

"Nikolai you do realize zhat is a terrible idea, right?" Richtofen pointed out.

"Is not terrible idea if you're not a pussy." He retorted.

"Well we can't just stay up here forever." Dempsey complained.

Rune laid back against the mass of her oak and let her arms dangle off the sides.

"Anyone wanna be a guinea pig for going back on the ground?" Dempsey asked.

"Don't look at me I'm not going back down there 'till I know it's safe." Rune opted out.

"Someone's gotta do it." Dempsey concluded.

Richtofen let out an annoyed sigh and shifted his weight on the branch he was on.

"I'll do it if you all are so adamant on getting back down." He volunteered. The other four watched him intently to see if he would get swarmed or not. He got down on the ground safely and nothing charged at him, not a single rustle in the woods.

It was enough to get the others to come down from their temporary respites. They grouped back together and checked their ammunition and weapons.

"Well, if all else fails we know the trees are safe." Dempsey commented.

"Just for now, American, ve don't know if zhey'll get smart enough to figure a way to get us." Richtofen cautioned.

"So we just keep moving then?" Rune asked.

"Yep, 'till we get to a stopping point, or get to Ste. Genevieve." Dempsey answered.

"I wonder how far we are from out destination." Takeo wondered.

"Hey I've got a GPS on my phone, let me try that." Rune quickly recalled.

She got out her phone which was surprisingly still at a forty percent charge.

"Hmm….it says that we're just a couple miles from it. We'll be getting to townscape pretty soon." She answered.

"How soon is soon?" Nikolai asked.

"Perhaps today's distance or maybe early tomorrow."

The other four liked those odds and started off again. Rune pocketed her phone and followed with them. This time she trailed behind them, keeping an ear out for any sounds of zombies.

"Hey, Dempsey." She uttered, to which Dempsey looked back at her.

"What?" he replied, walking backwards.

"I was wondering if you could teach me a few things about military drills and stuff like that." She came out. Dempsey raised an eyebrow, but kept watching her.

"What in the world made you want to start doing things militarily?" he asked.

She moved her hair behind her ears and smiled.

"Just a few words of encouragement and sense, besides I was going to join before all this zombie stuff happened anyway." She answered.

"Oh really, what branch were you going to join?" Dempsey asked eagerly.

"Air Force, I've always wanted to pilot a jet fighter."

"Heh, well can't say that's the route I'd have gone, because I joined the Marines, but hey, that's your call."

She nodded and Dempsey turned back around, when he did she caught a glance from Richtofen.

"You know guys, ve could all teach her something. Give her a taste of other military styles, und perhaps it could benefit us as vell." He pitched. Takeo nodded and looked back to Rune and tipped his hat.

"I would be honored to teach you, young one. I always had a feeling they would let women into the military." He replied.

Nikolai sniffed and turned around to her.

"All right, but I don't really know what you'll get from me. Other than a few rusty pointers." He admitted.


	32. Chapter 32

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 32

Just as Rune had speculated they started to reach the impending townscape. The five passed by houses nestled in the woods with driveways leading out onto the highway. Many of them were abandoned and left to the mercy of nature, but the survivors wouldn't take any chances of getting overrun or finding out that the houses were not so abandoned. It was agreed upon that they would stay outside again tonight, but it would be wise to stay more alert.

Sunset had just taken its course, but the pink lines in the sky still persisted. The five had set up camp in a rather clear part of the woods so they could have the advantage of spotting their enemies before they could spot them. Rune looked up to the appearing stars and something out of place caught her eyes. A contrasting blue line leading vertically up to the sky seemed very suspicious to her.

"Hey Ed, come here a second." She called.

Richtofen perked up and went over to her location curious as to why she had called him.

"Does that look promising to you?" she asked pointing at the blue line. He took a moment to examine it and then smiled.

"Vell I'll be damned." He muttered happily.

"So I take it that it is the teleporter." Rune concluded. Richtofen nodded and patted her on the shoulder then returned to the other three and told them the news.

"That's fucking sweet, home sweet home!" Dempsey cheered. Rune came over to them and took a seat next to the fire.

"So once we get there we just follow the light to the teleporter?" Nikolai questioned.

"Zhat's right und vith any luck ve'll get to it unscathed." Richtofen hoped.

"I have the sinking feeling that we will get no such luck. If it is like all the other times we've found the teleporter there will be many zombies to greet us." Takeo forewarned.

Takeo was probably right too, never had they gotten to the teleporter without some malevolent force trying to kill them, and the zombies they'd ran from earlier today made them think so even more.

"Now's not the time to make a big deal out of that. You guys have survived thousands of zombies in your time, this should be no different." Rune encouraged. They didn't seem to be as convinced as her if they would even make it this time.

"For now let's just take it one step at a time." Richtofen suggested. They all nodded in agreement for that plan. To know that the way home was just a couple miles away made them all antsy. They'd all prefer to just get there and be done with it, but of course zombies were a major issue.

Night flowed over and still out of the glare of the city lights stars covered the sky. Rune had left the other four to gaze out into the celestial sea which she did whenever she could. The moon was no more than a small fragment, but she still admired its pale, ivory glow. In her head she would name off constellations as she found them amongst the immense clouds of stars.

The four men began to get quiet and thus they all agreed to rest and to shifts. Dempsey took first shift and after the uneventful two hours he woke Takeo and fell into a fitful sleep. Takeo was then replaced by Nikolai who took to humming Russian songs and drinking his vodka to steel himself for an encounter. Rune took the shift after Nikolai at three in the morning and again set her gaze on the stars, relying on her other senses to warn her of danger.

An hour later Rune could see the lightening of the sky to the east and knew that daylight would soon be at hand. She would occasionally take a look at the blue light that indicated the location of the teleporter. After another thirty minutes of watch she heard the rustle of grass behind her and immediately turned. She was startled by a standing figure, but her nerves calmed after she realized that it was only Richtofen.

"Hey you're shift isn't for a while, you can go back to sleep." She assured him.

"Ze damn voices von't leave me alone." He explained placing his right hand on the side of his head.

"Oh, so I guess you won't be going back to sleep then?" she questioned. He nodded slightly and she turned back to look out at the remaining night sky.

"Is zhat all you've done tonight?" he asked.

"Yeah, I can't help it. I've always been prone to stargazing." She answered.

"Vell, you're not going to see much here on Earth." He told her. Rune remembered that he'd been on the moon several times due to the teleporter and Griffin Station.

"Did you ever see any of the Vril?" Rune questioned. Richtofen stopped in thought and then sighed.

"Unfortunately, no I never did, but ze fact zhat zhere knowledge und technology is zhere on ze moon gives me hope zhat zhey are out zhere. Perhaps zhey are vatching us as ve speak." He answered.

"That brings me to think that maybe the Egyptian-aliens thing really happened."

Richtofen chuckled and took a seat next to her.

"I don't doubt zhat it happened, of course I have more reason zhan most to believe in extraterrestrials." He stated.

"You know there is a theory that states that humans came from Mars." Rune replied.

"No kidding, vell if ze bacteria zhat came to ze primal Earth vas from Mars I can believe it."

"There are some scientists who believe that we share the Earth with beings so different from ourselves that they coexist on a different plane, called the Shadow Realm." She continued.

"Now zhat's a bit too far." He stopped her. They continued to converse about other weird scientific finds and the like until they both noticed the light of day had broken over the horizon. Rune got up and went to her bedroll to get the rest of her sleep before it was time to go.

"See you in a little bit." She chided.

"See you, mein lieb." He replied.

As she fell asleep she could hear Richtofen begin to argue with himself (or the voices) and bicker about the whole moon incident. She worried for his remaining sanity, but knew that he was used to the voices. Rune finally fell to sleep and had a short dream influenced by Richtofen's hushed conversations. It was an awkward dream at that, but it was soon over with once it was time to wake everyone up.


	33. Chapter 33

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 33

"I would welcome you all to Ste. Genevieve, but I think its best not to." Rune retracted looking at the city limits sign and then gazing to the outline of the town in the distance. The faint smell of rotting flesh hung in the air making it certain that zombies where indeed making their home here.

"At least we're closer to getting home." Dempsey reminded.

"Indeed, but there is always the chance that we might not all make it there." Takeo forewarned grimly.

Rune closed her eyes and shook her head, trying not to think about dying just before having the chance to make a new life where she knew she could be safe. She looked up to the skyline able to make out the beacon of blue light up against cloud cover.

"I'm ready to just get all this over with." Nikolai grumbled and prepared his AK-47. The others nodded in agreement and got their primaries prepped as well.

They took their first steps into the city with extremely heightened guards. Ste. Genevieve was an old town, one of the oldest in Missouri and it certainly showed it. Many of the residential buildings were made in the 17th century or even older. The bad thing was that it was hard to tell which way to go and Rune had only been here three times in her whole life. The only way they could find their way through the historical town was to follow the light.

It was eerily quiet as they strode on the streets that were surprisingly clear of any kind of debris.

"I've got that bad feeling again." Nikolai muttered.

"I think we all do Nikolai." Dempsey admitted.

"Maybe zhat little girl is vatching us; vaiting for ze perfect opportunity to send her minions after us." Richtofen theorized.

Five minutes of walking yielded no physical evidence that any zombies were here, but the overlying stench convinced them otherwise. The five fixed their weapons on alleyways, buildings, and anything else that would have a potential for housing the undead. Turning around a street corner they looked back up to the sky to see the light beam wider and more prominent. They were very close to it now and very close to home.

The five finally made it to the source of the light and thus the teleporter. Its location was very suspicious and they didn't celebrate once they saw its metal frame or tempered glass platform.

"This isn't right, why would it be in the park?" Rune speculated.

"It concerns me as vell. Look at where ze vires are going; it's connected to another source." Richtofen pointed out.

"Don't tell me that we're gonna have to turn on the power." Dempsey complained. Just as he finished his sentence the infamous disembodied giggling of Samantha echoed across the town.

"Wow, you found it! I would congratulate you, but you're not done yet." She informed.

"You little she-devil; I should kill you for everything you've put us through!" Nikolai shouted into the sky. Samantha laughed and then suddenly stopped allowing an uneasy silence to ensue.

"You still have to play with my friends. They missed you so much while you were away." She pleaded.

At that moment they heard growls and shrieks of the zombies that had taken refuge beyond the teleporter. The sky turned dark and lightning flashed all over the town. Samantha's demented laughter filled their hearts with dread and anger.

"Let's play!" she laughed. The five were struck by a large bolt of lightning and their figures disappeared from their original location.

Another large bolt of lightning crashed near the power plant and with its crash came the five. They'd been disarmed and left with nothing but the clothes on their backs, and the symbolic M1911s of the Nazi Zombies game mode. Once they realized their situation the ghostly music that sounded the beginning of a round mocked them. A finalizing fit of laughter from Samantha cemented their fate in the twisted game.

"I really didn't want to do this." Rune admitted, clenching onto her M1911.

"It doesn't matter now. It's either do or die, and I don't think you'd like dying." Dempsey replied looking for a blockaded window to start camping at.

"Don't worry it gets easier the more you play. After all you said you were good at it on that Playstation thingy." Nikolai reminded.

"Think of it zhis vay, it's just like a, oh let's say, virtual reality, but it's real in every sense." Richtofen added. She just took a long exhale and shook her head to focus.

"And do not worry about getting downed. So long as one of us remains standing we all have a hope of returning." Takeo mentioned.

In their starting room there were four windows, as was the standard, two on an upstairs platform and two on ground floor. Each was crudely blocked with haphazardly placed planks of wood. On the eastern wall upstairs was the chalk outline of an Olympia and on the west wall on the ground floor was an M1 Garand.

"I'd like to ask what's up with the archaic change in weapons. There's a weapon from World War 2 and then there's one from around the Black Ops era." Rune asked.

"Oh well, what'd know." Dempsey remarked looking behind him upstairs to the chalk outline on the wall and then downstairs at the M1 Garand.

"Maybe Samantha is testing us with a variety of weapons?" Takeo suggested.

"There better be an MP5 or some other SMG I can use." Rune hoped.

"Vhat is it vith you und SMGs?" Richtofen questioned.

"It's obvious Diktofen, she likes things with small packages." Dempsey insulted.

"Shut up Dempsey!" Rune retorted.

"I'll be sure to aim at your head Dempsey!" Richtofen mused.

"Whatever, you might be better off aiming at zombies than me if you want to last long." Dempsey pointed out. Richtofen looked to his right side and saw that he'd let a zombie get to the window he was guarding.

"Don't use your ammo on this round guys; just knife them, it only takes one hit with it to kill them on this round." Rune informed.

"See you're already proving useful." Nikolai congratulated knifing the first zombie that came to his window.

"Alright, seeing that you have the upper hand on details and tricks to Sam's game is there anything we can do to get a boost to points?" Dempsey asked. She thought for a moment over the sounds of knives going through necrotic flesh.

"No, unfortunately, but there is something we can do to improve the drop rate on specials." She mentioned.

"Great, what is it?" Takeo asked.

"All right, it's going to take two of us. One crouches in a corner and another sprint jumps into the guy crouching in the corner. This will down the two of you, but Sam will laugh and in turn improving the rate that specials will appear." She instructed.

"I'm up for it, but only if I get to jump." Dempsey volunteered.

"Someone take over my window and I'll go for it." Nikolai grumbled. Rune rushed over to Nikolai who then left to go to a corner and begin the process. The intoxicated Russian nearly fell over crouching, but he managed to stay up long enough to realize that this was a stupid idea. Dempsey bull rushed to Nikolai and dived right into him causing both of them bodily pain.

"I feel like an idiot." Nikolai muttered, downed on the concrete ground. Samantha's laugh filled the room and Rune fist pumped at the maneuvers success.

"Don't worry you guys I'm coming." She assured them. She got Nikolai up first and then Dempsey who went right back to his window.

"Uh, Rune you left the window open and now…..well, look." Nikolai pointed out. She looked back at the window and saw boards being taken off one by one.

"Oh for God's sake." She cursed rushing over to the window and quickly knifing the zombie responsible for taking off two boards.

"How does this whole repairing thing work exactly?" she questioned looking at the boards on the other side of the window.

"Just think about it and that usually does it." Dempsey answered.

She tried it and apparently it worked, though strange as it might have been. The boards floated in the air and then placed themselves back on the window. A final knife slice from Takeo and the end of the round came to be.

"Oh, joy round two." Rune mused.


	34. Chapter 34

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 34

"Don't shoot on this round either, just knife them twice." Rune informed just before she took to doing the same on a zombie that had just appeared in her window.

"Hate to ask, but when do we start shooting?" Dempsey questioned.

"Next round, unleash a full clip then knife them, that usually does the trick." She answered.

"What happens when you run out of ammo?" Nikolai asked.

Rune shrugged her shoulders and then knifed two zombies that had reached arms length of her.

"Knife the living shit out of them and don't get hit." She pitched. Nikolai nodded taking a drink of his vodka seeing that he was free to rest.

"How do you know how many points you have?" Rune asked.

"I'm not quite sure; you just kind of know how many points you have." Richtofen answered. She thought for a moment and the number twelve hundred and seventy popped up in her head.

"I've got twelve seventy." She announced.

"Fifteen twenty over here." Dempsey boasted.

"Eleven sixty." Takeo sounded.

"Fourteen twenty." Richtofen pronounced.

"Eight sixty." Nikolai grunted.

Rune nodded taking all the numbers into account and then formulating a plan.

"We need to start opening doors soon so we can get the mystery box soon." She speculated.

"Good idea, but ve don't even know vhere it is." Richtofen replied.

"Well, if it isn't in the first two rooms we open then just buy wall weapons for the time being."

Rune watched her window carefully, but looked to see if Dempsey was clear of zombies. He was peeking through the window restlessly waiting for more zombies to slice at.

"Dempsey," she called, and he turned around, "go open a door; you've got the most points."

He took a last look around his window and then rushed over to the door upstairs.

It creaked open and revealed a series of catwalks connected to one large platform that branched into more catwalks.

"No box in here, but a crap load of catwalks." He informed, coming back through the door.

"What's in there for wall weapons?" she asked. He peeked back in and looked at the fences that came up from the rails.

"PM63, and a Thompson in this room." He reported.

"All right then." She replied. Dempsey hurried back to his window only to be disappointed that there weren't any zombies there. Rune looked at the other two guarding windows to see who was occupied.

Richtofen had another one coming and he had the second most points.

"Nikolai take over Richtofen's windows and Ed go get a door, but not in the room Dempsey just opened." She ordered. Nikolai ran over to the window and greedily knifed the incoming zombie while Richtofen opened the door just a few feet from his window.

"What's that room got?" Nikolai asked.

"No mystery box, but I see an MPL, und an STG on ze far side of ze room." He reported. The room was pretty much empty except for the large electrical boxes and boarded up windows numbering three.

"Great, so that means wall weapons." Dempsey pointed out.

"Yep, if you don't have the right points for anything just do what I said for round three." Rune reiterated, knifing the last zombie of the round.

The music of an ending round played and a brief pause ensued.

"I see you're all having fun. And since you're playing so well I just thought you'd like to have these." Sam giggled. Large beams of light gathered and came down into the power plant yielding the perks in their wake. As was the standard, Quick Revive was in the first room, and it looked like Double Tap was in the room Richtofen had opened.

No perk had landed in Dempsey's room, but it looked as though another did in the room after it.

"Well, that'd be helpful if we had the power on." Dempsey complained. The demonic laughter again filled the building and faded away to the music for beginning a round.

"Get ready for double duty guys, and if you don't feel confident get a wall weapon if you can." Rune iterated.

"I got this one Rune. Takeo and Nikolai you two are on double window duty, Rune you're coming with me there's four windows in this room up here." Dempsey ordered. Before going up the stairs into the catwalk room she looked back through the door to the electrical box room.

"You going to alright in there Ed?" she asked.

"I'll be fine liebling, go on." He answered.

She headed up the stairs and followed Dempsey into the catwalk room where zombies were already breaking through three of the four windows. She took the two on the left and Dempsey took the two on the right. Rune let a clip into each of the two zombies and then proceeded to knife them. Just as she'd speculated they dropped after the knife slash.

Dempsey did the same for both his windows that had two zombies a piece and that nearly depleted his ammo, but it gave him some much needed points. They both repaired the windows that had been broken into and staunchly defended them from any more undead.

"I don't know about you, but I'm getting that SMG." Dempsey forewarned. Rune took to watching his windows while he grabbed the PM63 and went back.

Going back to his window prompted two zombies to make their way to the window on his left. He only had one clip so he shot the closest one and then switched to the PM63 to take out the other. Once the zombie he'd shot with the M1911 came within reach he knifed it, dropping it as expected. Rune had just one shambling up to the window on her left and she let a clip go into it, but she had to knife twice to drop it.

"So what's up after this?" Dempsey asked.

"Round four, try to conserve ammo if you can and we'll see about getting other doors open. Seeing as we couldn't find the box in these rooms the priority is getting the power on." She informed. After a while it looked like their room had been cleaned out so it was safe to assume that at least one of them could go and check up on the others. Dempsey ran out of the room and made a check on everyone.

He saw that everyone had their rooms under control and he reported back to Rune on their status. She nodded and then heard the end music again.

"Who got the last kill?" She asked Dempsey.

"Nikolai did, he ran out of ammo and just kept knifing the things." He replied.

"Does he have another gun?"

"Yeah, he grabbed the MPL real quick when I came down to check on them."

Round four started and the zombies caught Rune off guard on her right window. She ran out of ammo mid-shooting and was desperate for a weapon.

"Dempsey quadruple duty!" she warned catching him mid-shooting as well. She rushed over to the PM63 and grabbed it as quick as she could then shot into the mass of four zombies on her right window. She missed most of the time and chastised herself for it.

"Um, guys a little help!" she shouted trying her best to aim her weapon and hit something other than the wall.

"Little bit occupied here." Dempsey growled shooting at the mass that had swarmed his windows. Two zombies had already found their way through the blockade and were now hell-bent on chasing Rune down. She screamed and shot haphazardly at them only to find that three more had joined them.

"Someone, anybody, I could use some help right about now!" she yelled starting to rapidly back out of the room. She had to change her clip, but knew that if she was distracted she'd get downed and risk having Dempsey get downed too if she wasn't there to keep them occupied. Another zombie came out of the left window she'd been guarding and this one was a runner. Instinct took over and she ran down the staircase followed by the mass she'd let in.


	35. Chapter 35

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 35

Nikolai and Takeo immediately reacted to the shrieking of the horde and tried as best they could to shoot down a few of them. Takeo took one down with a headshot, and Nikolai sprayed his MPL into four of them which, unfortunately for Rune, made them runners.

"Rune, keep them on you we can get them." Takeo urged shooting another one down. Nikolai was startled at a zombie that had just reached his window and was unable to shot the rest of them.

Another zombie from the far upstairs window had broken through and joined in the chase for Rune as well.

"Stay away!" She shouted shakily trying to reload her PM63. Takeo shot the one coming down the stairs for her, but it didn't go down as he expected. She ran into the electrical room and was now endangering everyone's lives.

Richtofen had just killed the last of his zombies and was now trained on the intruders from the other rooms. He fixed his aim on the STG and waited for the right shot on the four that were chasing Rune.

"Get out of ze vay now!" he ordered causing Rune to slide to the closest wall. A flurry of bullets and they dropped one by one ending the shrieks and the chase that had ensued.

Rune stayed on the ground unsure of what to do now seeing that she was the weak link and had just put everyone else's lives at risk. She threw the SMG to the side and tried not to cry. The sound of a grenade in the catwalk room startled everyone and Dempsey walked out like a champion. He came down the stairs and made his way to the electrical room as well.

Rune put her head down expecting a harsh lashing of some not so kind words. Dempsey stood in the doorway and waited for her to peek up from her skulking.

"Hey, c'mon Rune we've gotta get you trained." Dempsey ushered in a surprisingly calm voice. She looked up at him and didn't see any sign that he was in the least bit angry.

"I'm sorry." She apologized weakly.

"It's all right, I'm not mad at you. You just need a few pointers on an automatic." He concluded. Richtofen patted her shoulder and went to retrieve the PM63 she'd thrown away. Rune picked herself up off the ground and fixed her hair.

Dempsey turned and went into the main room checking on whether the crawler he'd made had come in or not.

"Let's go Rune." Richtofen urged handing back her PM63. She reluctantly took it back and went back into the main room. The other three were waiting with their automatic weapons to their sides.

"All right so let's get this started." Dempsey spoke readying his PM63. Rune exhaled heavily and trained her PM63 at Nikolai's window.

"I would hate to be a bother, but you need to at least reload your weapon." Takeo stated. Rune checked her waist for another clip and found it on her right side.

Reloading was the easiest part to an automatic SMG, but for her shooting was apparently beyond her range. She trained her aim on the window again and was ready to shoot at one of the boards.

"Okay so let's try without any helpers just to see what we're working with." Dempsey pitched. She waited a little bit and then pressed down on the trigger loosing five bullets which only one grazed the top board while the other four went into the other room.

Dempsey seemed to cringe, but it wasn't an impossible fix.

"All right, first things first, keep your arms strong. You can't be afraid of the thing, yeah you're gonna get sore, but it's better than getting the crap beat out of you by a zombie." He iterated. She nodded and tightened her grip on the gun and slightly stiffened her arms.

"Pull it in a bit, you're not giving it away any time soon." He added.

She pulled it closer and went back to aiming at the boards again.

"Okay let's try this again." He ordered making sure to step back a bit. She pulled the trigger again and let six bullets go this time. Four of them hit the board while the other two again flew into the other room.

"That's a lot better." Nikolai commented. The crawler that Dempsey had made gurgled and made its way down the stairs.

"Someone wanna take care of that?" Dempsey asked. Takeo stepped up and went in front of the crawler grabbing its attention and making it follow him.

"Yeah, that is better, now I want you to keep shooting at that board and try to fire just five shots each time, like this." He ordered, getting his SMG ready and then firing into the board with each bullet hitting. He lowered his gun and Rune lifted her gun to fire.

She pulled the trigger, but let four shots in which two missed and two hit. She shook her head and aimed again and shot five this time, three out of five. She shot again, three out of five, and again, three out of five. Rune took a break and focused on the board trying to think of something that would somehow help her shoot.

She pictured each shot and estimated where they would hit and then she trained her gun again. This time she took a while to shoot, but that wait was well worth it. Five out of five this time and smiled with her first successful barrage.

"That's it, let's see it again." Dempsey urged. She aimed again and took her time then let another five and hit them all.

"She's a focused shooter, not a rushed one. Zhat must be vhy you're better at semi-automatics zhan vith fully automatics." Richtofen concluded.

"Seems to be; which means that you're gonna have to keep a semi-automatic weapon, that way if you need it to count you'll make the shot." Dempsey informed. She nodded and put the PM63 down to her side then looked up at Takeo still guiding the crawler along.

"Okay Takeo, you can kill him now." She released. He nodded and made a headshot with his MPL. The music for the next round started and it was time to start making their way to the power room, wherever it was.

"So which way do we go; ground level or upper level?" Nikolai asked.

The tearing of boards caught their attention.

"I don't know maybe we should split up into two groups, that way we have a better chance of finding the power switch." Rune devised.

"Great so what are the groups?" Takeo questioned.

"I'll need to go with two more, so decide quickly who's coming with me. The remaining two are the other group." She decided.

"Vell obviously I'm going vith you." Richtofen blurted. Dempsey glared at Richtofen and with his eyes he opted out.

"Nikolai or Takeo?" Rune narrowed. The two looked at each other and quickly looked away. Takeo raised his hand slightly and stepped forward.

"Okay, we're taking ground level; Nikolai and Dempsey take the upper. Let's go!" She shouted sprinting into the electrical room with Takeo and Richtofen. Nikolai and Dempsey sped up the stairs with their guns blazing. There were three zombies in the electrical room and they were dispatched with haste.

"Ed, you've got the most points out of all of us, take the door." Rune ordered. He quickly went over to the door and turned the handle. It opened into another electrical room, but this one had a staircase going up and it seemed like the only other way to go.

"So much for ground level." Richtofen mused.

There were three windows on the walls and one at a platform with the stairs. Zombies began to rush to the windows giving no respite to the three. Takeo took long shots at the zombies on the platform window while Richtofen took the east window. Rune looked at the west one and aimed at her targets carefully.

Two zombies were at her window, they were runners and they were tearing through the barricade quickly. She fired at the one on the left side of the window and took him down, and then she continued fire at the one on the right dropping it too. She nodded and turned to the window that wasn't taken, two more were making their way through, but before she could fire Richtofen made short work of them. They were all startled by the sudden barreling of a low hum and then zombies dropping one by one followed by the famous word, "Kaboom."


	36. Chapter 36

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 36

The nuke special was very welcomed, but it did start another round and they once again had to fight off zombies. Rune opened the door to the next room and it yielded huge fuse boxes that connected to the outside. Wherever the power room was they had to be getting close to it. Inside, the Double Tap Root Beer perk was settled in a corner next to a set of switches that did something or another.

There was no time to sightsee though as zombies were soon coming into the windows of this room as well as the room before. Their heavy steps on the metal stairs and shrieks of unholy manner were a prelude to a swarm of at six from the downstairs room. Takeo was the first one on killing off the swarm; he managed two before having to fall back after getting hit. A well placed headshot and a barrage to another from Richtofen left only two for Rune to finish off.

"This room is too small to fight effectively in. We need to open the door to the next room." Takeo warned.

"All right then take the door Takeo, you've got the most points." Rune replied. He nodded and hurried over to the door leading to the next room.

Once opened the sounds of a separate gunfight filled the room. It was another series of catwalks in a very large room almost like an amphitheater. The three hurried onto the catwalk and they saw on the other side of the room on another series of catwalks were Dempsey and Nikolai fighting off zombies from their side of the building. Dempsey caught their figures running across the catwalks.

"It's about time you joined us! What took ya so long?!" He chided from across the room.

"We must have taken the long way around!" Rune replied trying to keep focused on killing off the zombies that were coming through the barricades.

"The power switch is on you're side! Flip it and we can get on the ground floor below us!" Dempsey informed.

Takeo looked to his right and Dempsey's observation was correct; he took the liberty of turning on the power. The building came to life filling rooms with the hum of machinery and electrical charges.

"Great, but we still have to find the mystery box." Rune mentioned.

"No need to, it's on ze ground floor." Richtofen replied.

Woe and behold there it was sitting on top of a pile of smaller boxes, and the teleporter was there as well. The only way down to the ground was elevator carts at the end of the catwalks. Dempsey and Nikolai took off for them and made their way down. The other three were occupied with the remaining zombies of the round.

The last few rounds of their weapons finished the job, but left them in the position of low ammo. Down to the box was the only chance of getting a better weapon before the next round started. On their way down they saw Dempsey and Nikolai trying the box for weapons. The marine was rewarded with the automatic version of the AR15. Nikolai, however, got stuck with an L9A1 on his first go.

"Fucking box, you always fuck me over." He cursed. Richtofen, Takeo, and Rune got down to the ground and they hurried to try their luck even though the zombies had started to break into the windows again. Dempsey and Nikolai ran to take care of the encroaching horde. Takeo took the first turn and was gifted with an Uzi once more.

"Go on ahead, Ed." Rune offered. Richtofen took his turn at the box and received a Famas.

"Vhat, zhat's it, no Wunderwaffe for me?" he questioned as he left to go fight the horde off. Rune's turn seemed to take the longest, but that seemed to be a good thing. Before her eyes was a fine piece of weaponry and technology.

The four men took on zombie after zombie, forcing them back to the windows and letting them repair them for the next wave.

"Damn, those fuckers are tough." Dempsey exhaled, leaning against the wall next to his window.

"I need max ammo or something, I'm not going to use a fucking sniper rifle on round seven." Nikolai complained.

"Too bad there are no weapons in this room." Takeo seemed to mock.

The music for the next round sounded and thus the zombies began to swarm, but unlike the other zombies these ones were different. Their rotting skin was laced with specs of the glowing element 115. The four unleashed round after round of bullets, but they only fell after a full clip was through or to a headshot.

"These bastards are gonna be a handful." Dempsey forewarned trying to keep two of them at bay after they'd broken through his window.

"Get avay you mutated schweinhund!" Richtofen shouted firing a clip into one of the 115 zombies that had just hit him. It was soon obvious that they would get overrun if a miracle didn't happen soon. Dempsey was hit by a 115 zombie that had come from the upstairs and happened to jump down to him. Takeo and Nikolai were pushed into each other by the encroaching mob of the new foes.

It was only a matter of time before the four would be overtaken. In their minds they prayed for the miracle of a nuke special or some divine intervention. Their prayers were answered, but not by divinity or chance, but by one stroke of luck that seemed to grace them.

"Get ready for the shock of your undead lifetimes!" Rune howled.

The four looked behind them and the glow and whimsy of the DG-2 graced their eyes. The buzz of immense electrical power and the pull of the trigger unleashed it's fury upon the restless dead. The electricity found its targets and hit them with an unholy hunger, arcing from one zombie to the next. They shrieked in pain and were seared by the sheer heat of the electricity.

"My creation; how on earth vould ze box let you have it?" Richtofen questioned in disbelief. Rune hefted the heavy lightning rifle to a better holding position.

"Guess I was lucky. Oh, by the way the round isn't over yet." She replied. The four looked back at the windows and saw more of the 115 enhanced zombies coming towards them.

"Headshots only guys, we've gotta conserve ammo." Dempsey warned. The four took aim and waited for the right moments to shot the zombies down. Unfortunately, as they killed one another came to take its place almost as quickly as the last one had fallen. Nikolai was impatient and desperate to get the zombies killed and over with so he threw a grenade into the mob of undead.

The grenade killed two and blew a few appendages off of them, but no crawlers were left in the explosion's wake. Dempsey decided to toss a grenade in as well after dropping one of the armless zombies. With his grenade three fell and it left one crawler, the rest were still, more or less able-bodied. A few more headshots reduced their numbers down to a bearable amount as the end of the round neared.

The crawler that Dempsey had made trailed behind the remaining zombies.

"Leave the crawler guys; we need a little time to re-strategize." Rune called. The last few walking zombies were dealt with leaving the lone crawler to try and bite at their shins. Takeo, again, took crawler duty and led it around so it wouldn't disturb everyone.

"All right, so there it is." Dempsey pointed to the teleporter.

"Yes, but it doesn't look like its working." Nikolai observed.

"Und you're right, Nikolai, it isn't vorking." Richtofen backed looking at the machine.

"Well, you know how to work the thing so go and fix it." Dempsey ordered.

"Zhat's vhat I vas going to do, Dempsey." Richtofen replied annoyed.

"So….in the meantime what do we do?" Rune asked.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to drink my vodka now." Nikolai opted, pulling out a bottle from his pack. Dempsey looked over at Rune and inspected the DG-2 she held.

"Do you have another weapon?" he asked.

Rune shook her head and put the large rifle to her side.

"I'll go and get another one." She replied heading over to the mystery box. The little jingle played and hanging in midair was an FN-FAL which she took without complaint. She took a glance at the teleporter and saw Richtofen tinkering with the circuits to the control panel.

It was only a matter of time now until the four could go home and she could start anew.

"Vell, zhat's not good." Richtofen muttered.

"What?" Rune asked worriedly.

"First of all, zhere's a part missing, und second, ze time circuitry has gone bad." He answered.

This grabbed everyone's attention and even Takeo looked up from the crawler to see what was going on.

"So we can't use the thing?" Dempsey questioned.

"Ve can use it; it's not zhat ze missing part is zhat hard to find. I just need an extra copper wire und it's good to go. As for the circuits….." he paused.

"We can't travel through time now?" Rune suggested.

"Zhat's not true either. Ve can travel through time, but I can't guarantee zhat ve'll end up vhere ve vant to." He answered. The other four hung their heads in doubt, until the sound of the crawler dying caught their attention and the shriek of a replacement coming along.


	37. Chapter 37

Untoten Kreuzung

Chapter 37

**The final chapter of Untoten Kreuzung. Woot! I got this far and I hope you all are willing to continue along with me in the next stories that follow them through two separate journeys, because as Richtofen said he couldn't guarantee where they would end up. So I took the liberty of creating two separate chronicles (More details at the end). **

Takeo was left to deal with the replacement zombie and thus start the next round. Everyone rushed to their places and did last minute reparations before the next horde rushed in. This round didn't feature any more of the enhanced zombies, but that didn't make things any less perilous. Bullets flew into the walking corpses they tried to vie their way through the boards.

A few of the ones on the catwalk jumped down onto the ground floor posing a new threat to the five. This horde didn't require a shot from the DG-2 and the round ended normally.

"At this rate we're gonna need those perks." Dempsey warned.

"Okay so this round we'll leave a crawler and get some." Rune concluded.

Round nine came and went although slower than eight had. As planned they left a crawler to wander after them as they all traveled together to go for Juggernog first. The favored perk was in the room before the power room that Dempsey and Nikolai had opened. Dempsey was in front of the group and purchased first, guzzling the whole bottle down.

"Heheh, oorah zombies, let's see ya try to take me down now." He chided. Rune was up next and popped the cap on the bottle. The expression on her face when she first started to drink it was so odd it made the other four chuckle.

"Well, I can't say I love it or hate it, but honestly, I could go without another one." She admitted.

Up next was Speed Cola which was in the next room.

"Ah, ze best drink of zhem all." Richtofen cheered quickly getting first dibs on his favorite perk-a-cola.

"Bah, it ruins my buzz." Nikolai grumbled. Dempsey took his purchase and drank it as quick as he could.

"Oh, I'm very skeptical on this one." Rune admitted eyeing the green bottle. She popped the cap and before she could get the first gulp down an insanely sour taste invaded her taste buds. She retracted from the bottle and held it out like it was a poisonous snake trying to bite at her.

"God damn, that's fucking sour!"

Richtofen suppressed his laughter and had a peculiar facial expression.

"Apparently you don't mind sour in any other vay." He mused. Dempsey shook his head getting the terrible imagery out of his head. Rune turned back to Richtofen and gave him a dangerous look to which he only smiled and turned his gaze in another direction.

With time she got the rest of it down and they all went back to the main room where their crawler was awaiting to tear their shins.

"He's very persistent isn't he?" Richtofen commented twirling the copper wire he needed in his fingers.

"Let's just get the teleporter fixed and get out of here." Dempsey urged as they got to the elevator cart. The crawler made its way to the five as they descended back to the floor.

Richtofen went back to tinkering with the control panel and with a zap of electricity the teleporter came to life.

"Zhere ve are, home is hopefully just a button press avay." He chided. The other four men stood and admired their way home. Rune on the other hand began to have second thoughts and she turned away looking out the high placed window to the outside world.

A calmly placed hand on her shoulder brought her back to reality.

"Is zhere anything you vant to do before ve go?" Richtofen asked gently. Rune closed her eyes and thought for a moment, and then she looked back to the window. She instinctively pulled her phone from her pocket and looked at the time.

Fourteen hundred seventeen hours it read; the day was June 14th of 2012. She unlocked the screen and clicked the icon for her contacts and she skimmed through the list. Rune tapped on her father's number first and called it, knowing that she wouldn't get an answer. The phone rang three times and went to voicemail, so she tapped on her mother's number and the same happened.

She tried every number, but she always knew that no one would answer. The last number rang and went to voicemail completing her list of calls. She went back to the main screen and that's when her phone finally went dead and now she would be unable to charge it ever again.

"It's for the best." She muttered under her breath.

After a brief moment of silence Richtofen patted her shoulder and turned around to the teleporter.

"Come on Rune, zhere's no need to linger on ze past now. It's a new beginning for both of us." He assured calmly. She turned and saw the other three waiting on them to join.

The quiet was abruptly broken by the angered scream of Samantha in her demonic voice.

"No, no, no! You were supposed to play forever! I won't let you leave; I'll never let you leave! Especially not you Edward!" she cried.

Intense bolts of lightning struck through the roof of the building and, ignoring every rule she'd ever made, Samantha summoned hordes of zombies almost instantaneously. They were of every kind, ghouls, 115 zombies, runners, walkers, Nazis, Japanese, engineers, civilians and even children. They all formed in an unyielding mass that vied to tear out the very souls of the survivors.

"Play with me!" Samantha screamed.

The five pulled out their weapons and fired without a care of accuracy or points. Rune blasted them with the DG-2 and electrocuted ten, but a demonic cry reverberated in the room and the weapon was torn from her grasp and dissipated into nothingness. Richtofen pressed madly on the panel trying to confirm their destination and time. Rune threw all her grenades at the undead and they exploded with little effect as it did with the others.

"C'mon Richtofen!" Demspey shouted.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" he replied over the shrieks and groans of the zombies. They shot into the crowd until the last bullet and then they could only pray. A line of zombies was deathly close to them and they were hungry for their flesh and blood.

One grazed Rune's arm and nearly caught her shirt in its skeletal grasp.

"Edward!" she cried desperately. The final keys were pressed and Richtofen slammed the lever down. Sam screamed and the zombies returned with their cries of unholy hunger and terror. Electricity barred the entrance of the machine from the invading undead and they collapsed as they reached into the barrier.

Rune held onto Richtofen with all her strength, afraid to lose him in any way. The zapping and humming of the teleporter drowned everything out and for a moment Rune could hear a call from beyond time. It was a strange voice, but she felt like she had known it for ages.

"Mother, come home."

**I hope you all enjoyed this tale, but there is more yet to be told with the five. As I mentioned above, there will be two stories following the five's trek after teleporting. Untoten Kreuzung: The Journey Forward will follow the five where they are still stuck in 2012. Untoten Kreuzung: Aftermath will take place where the five successfully teleport back in time. As for Eisernes Kreuz, well...I won't say anything crucial, but it takes place after Aftermath. Pick which one to read or read both and keep up with the two of them, but know that due to keeping track of one I might upload erractically (helped by my absence of internet at home). But let me just say that it's been awesome having people read and comment on my stories and I hope I shall have many more to join in following this tale. **


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